Dark Days
by pinkfloyd1770
Summary: Tai knows that being Digi Destined means protecting both worlds, from any threat. But the Digimon Emperor isn't an ordinary threat, and as a new, less hardened group of Chosen Children take up their mantles as guardians, Tai also knows that the safety of those two worlds can come at any cost. Tai/Matt. Fills the empty spaces of Season 2.
1. Chapter 1

Well. Digimon. This is the series that split the nucleus for me, when it came to fandom. The first fic I read was a Digimon fic. I'm done being nostalgic, so I'll just say, I'm surprised it's taken me this long to publish a Digi fic. The idea occurred to me while watching Season 2, and it's fairly simple, actually, and all planned out. Without further delay, here is the first chapter.

* * *

Matt decided not to bother trying to make something for dinner. He'd set the plastic bags from the grocery store down over an hour ago, when the sun was still out and the sky was bright orange-red. He looked down at the freshly sharpened knife in his hand, and saw his dim reflection, where his eyes were grey instead of blue. Two days ago, the knife had been delivered in a lacquered wood box, without occasion or explanation, its arrival leaving Matt in a brief quandary as he tried to remember the birthday or holiday he'd overlooked. After Matt's equally confused father announced tiredly that he had no idea who would be sending a gift at this time of year, Matt had shrugged, taken Tai's lead, and opened the box without preamble. Expectations completely bypassed, he'd turned the box's sole contents over in his hands as if searching for a clue; a quick search of the elegantly embossed, 'Sakai Takayuki' that decorated the blade's right face yielded the third party assertion that Matt was now the proud owner of a piece of 'the finest of Japanese steel.' Matt could only question who would send him an anonymous gift worth almost a week's pay at his after school job at the music store.

"Sakai Takayuki," Matt muttered the name as he put the knife back in its box. It didn't seem right to keep it with the other cutlery. He set the box on the counter, then took a notepad and pen from a drawer and wrote

_Gone out to eat. Be back in an hour. _

_-Matt_

He stuck the note on the counter, next to the box, and started placing the grocery bags' contents in the refrigerator when the doorbell buzzed.

Matt sighed before realizing TK might be visiting, and that he wouldn't be averse to company.

The bell sounded again as Matt touched the handle.

"All right, all right. I'm here." He swung the door open and paused.

"Tai?" Matt frowned, and his hand slowly slackened and fell to his side.

Tai smiled, in perfect form. "Well, it's nice to see you too. This a bad time, or can I come in?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Matt stepped aside and allowed his friend inside. "I just wasn't expecting anyone."

Tai nodded. "Right, right." He paused in the middle of the living room and sniffed the air, his eyebrows assuming uneven height.

"Hey, Tai. You all right?" Matt reached Tai's side and tried to puzzle out his expression.

Tai's face relaxed. "Actually, my mom is making something new tonight, and uh, the second I heard the words 'casserole' and 'surprise', I knew I wasn't going to like it, so I came to the best chef I know." At this Tai grinned, eyes alight with expectation.

"You mean the only chef willing to give you free food that you know," Matt deadpanned. He regarded the packages of chicken and pork, the fresh cucumbers, garlic and spinach. He'd bought them for a reason, yes, but...

Tai had apparently already waved off Matt's accusations, and was seated at the kitchen table. He leaned back precariously and without care.

"Yeah, all right, just make yourself at home." Matt griped softly, and Tai didn't seem to hear. He shouldn't have expected anything else.

"I'm telling you right now, you're not getting anything fancy."

Tai laughed. "Something edible is all I want." He leaned forward, taking the chair with him. "And maybe something sweet on the side, just for me." Tai winked.

Matt shook his head and peeled back the plastic from the chicken. "What's gotten you in such a great mood?"

Tai stared. "Are you kidding? This year's gonna be great. Championship. I'll bet you anything we'll make it, and win. We've got a killer team, and now that I'm assistant coach, the guys actually have someone they can relate to and feel comfortable talking with." Tai paused. "Oh and I got basically all the classes I wanted."

"And you're excited about classes now? Really?" Matt paused at the drawer. The other knives needed sharpening; they didn't cut cleanly, left stray strands of muscle and vegetable fiber. Matt hesitated for a few breaths before he grabbed the box and slid it open. He took the knife and held it in front of him, delicately at first before he finally reasserted his grip and made it firm. The rippled metal shimmered as though immersed in water, even in the dull kitchen lights.

Matt stopped again, at the silence. He looked over at Tai, who had stopped talking and instead leaned forward farther, attentively as though ready to follow urgent instructions. His lips were threatening to quirk upward.

"You like it?"

The question forced the words farther down Matt's throat. He took a breath and it came short. Did he...Matt examined the knife, then Tai. Finally he coughed, and as though he'd just saved himself from choking on a morsel of misplaced food, said breathlessly,

"You sent this?"

Tai nodded, completely at ease. "Yeah." Then his grin returned. "You're always complaining how none of the knives around here are sharp enough, so...I got you a new one."

"Huh." Matt just shook his head. "A new one. I..." He frowned.

Tai laughed. "Whoa. I figured you'd like it, but I didn't think you'd be speechless." He stood, walked over and threw his arm around Matt's shoulder.

"Now you can prepare as much food as you want, as often as you want, without worry about...what'd you say? 'Shitty stringy pieces of meat?' Sounds about right, coming from you." Tai removed his arm and inspected the food set out on the counter; he drummed his fingers in a quick staccato.

"So. What are you planning on making, anyway?"

Matt shook his head. "Tai. How did you afford this?"

"Really? My grandparents love me. They give me boatloads of money for soccer stuff, whether I need it or not."

Tai still talked like it was Matt's birthday, and he and his gift had simply arrived first, and all that was left was to wait for everyone else.

"But, you know. I had to ask Mimi about what exactly to buy."

Now Matt couldn't help but give his full attention to Tai. "What exactly does Mimi know about cutlery?"

Tai shrugged. "A hell of a lot more than I do." His eyes briefly narrowed at Matt's lingering confusion.

"Seriously, Matt. It's no big deal. You needed a better knife. I wanted to get you one. I mentioned it to Mimi, she pointed me to this one. I paid for it with money I got from my grandparents. And now you're gonna use it to make a dinner that won't give me indigestion." Tai spread his hands in front of him as though concluding a grand presentation.

Matt snorted. "Well, when you put it that way." He sighed. "All right. Thanks, man. I don't know when I'm going to be able to return the favor."

"Dinner at least once a week for the next few months would be good enough."

Matt snickered as he started slicing through green onion stalks, as easily as through soft butter.

"Sounds like a date to me."

"A long, six month date," Tai said seriously. He cracked his neck and shoulders. "You need any help?"

"Nah. I've made this lots of times before." Matt faced the stove and drizzled olive oil across a pan and turned the heat up to medium.

Tai crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. "How's TK been doing?"

"Eh. He hasn't been over in a while. Our mom is moving into a new apartment, and she paid for movers, so they didn't really need my help with anything. I only just saw the place yesterday." Matt dropped five pieces of cleanly sliced chicken into the pan, and watched them sizzle in silence. Yes. It was practically better to use professional movers. Of course.

Tai snapped his fingers. "House warming dinner." He nodded, agreeing with his own idea.

"Yeah, because it wouldn't be awkward if I showed up at my mom's apartment like some kind of self-employed delivery boy."

"I like that, actually. Might be more convenient than me coming over here." Tai paused for a reaction, received only a muttered 'fat chance,' and continued. "I'm actually serious, though. About the housewarming idea. Nothing makes people come together and feel happier than food."

"Want me to make that your epitaph?" Matt considered adding sliced garlic, but no, the green onions would add enough flavor on their own.

"Who says you're outliving me?" Tai sounded genuinely offended.

"You do. Well you didn't really say anything, you just ordered Aguman to digivolve and then charged head on toward the insane monstrosity of the moment."

"Oh come on. That was years ago. And let's not get started on charging head on into things. I remember, who was it? Cherrymon? Yeah, told you that I was a creep and holding you back, so you decided to have Gabumon tear my innards out."

Matt tightened his grip around the pan handle.

"I don't remember telling Metal Garurumon to tear anything out of you. And I did apologize for that. A lot." Matt wrinkled his nose at the scent of smoke. "Shit." He took the pan off the heat. He looked at Tai.

"So much for a perfect dinner."

Tai pushed himself off the counter edge. "Hey, Matt. I didn't mean anything..." He stopped as Matt laughed.

"Relax." Matt divided the chicken between two plates. He held a plate out in front of Tai. "Didn't get burnt at all." He went to the table, sat alone for a few moments before Tai took the seat across from him. Matt was the first to take a bite, and paused before swallowing just to reflect that Tai had yet to touch his food.

"It's good. Really good, actually."

Tai cut into his own piece with an abrupt, acute, motion.

_If he were a doctor, the patient would be dead, _Matt couldn't help but think. _Well, time I had a sense of humor for once. _

"Man, you really are sore when you think you've offended someone, don't you?"

Tai gave him an incredulous look.

_Or not._

Matt shifted as though he could rearrange his body and thoughts all at once.

"What you were saying earlier, about not meaning anything by what you...said earlier. Yeah. Same for me."

"But it does mean something," Tai said, suddenly and brilliantly animated. He stood and the table shifted. "A lot. Or else we wouldn't need to sit here and try to explain what we did or didn't want to say. Tai cleared his throat. "You know even after we came back from the Digital World, I was really pissed off at you for what you did in that forest."

Matt tried to speak, but Tai plodded forward.

"Not for punching me. I can handle myself well enough. And Agumon and Gabumon get along great, so I can't be mad for that." Tai ran his hands through his hair; they met at the top of his head and remained there, bound together.

"So what was the reason?" Matt finally asked.

"You and me. My ego." Tai left the words to work between them, and Matt couldn't get them to trigger any response in him.

"We fought a lot, yeah. I figured that was good for us, and after Venom Myotismon, I really got it into my head that 'yeah, it's good now, Tai, you've manged to hold everyone together, Kari is safe, you've got Matt as a friend. You're good." Tai unbound his hands and set them on his lap. Matt took it almost as a gesture of supplication.

"I didn't know you thought you had to keep everyone else from flying apart." Matt's hands started to sweat. He shouldn't have felt uncomfortable, not around Tai.

"Well, I wasn't patting myself on the back every night, you know?"

"That's not what I meant," Matt said, more loudly than he should have. "I know. Let me finish." He pushed his plate aside. "I went to go off to find myself, or whatever. I didn't...I didn't know what I was doing. At all. You though. You just went for it, and made everything look so easy and natural." Matt held up his hands quickly. "And I know it wasn't. Now I know. But back then, it was like a constant slap in the face, watching you get along with TK, Kari, Sora, and everyone else. I thought you and I were as far apart as two people could be, but we were actually pretty similar."

"Were?" Tai finally sounded at ease again.

"Are. And were." Matt at first refrained from eye contact, then thought better of it. "And now...we're here and. It's good."

Tai didn't say anything. Matt's expression was pained.

"I don't actually have to say it, do I? Tai, you're may..."

"No." Tai's hands flew up. "Nope. You don't have to spell it out for me. I'm not Davis."

Matt frowned. "Who?"

"Kid on my soccer team. He's, uh...oblivious. Even more than I was back then."

"That's impressive." Matt moved his plate back.

Tai smiled. "He's a good kid, though. Looks up to me a lot." Tai hesitated, his smile still present. "He actually calls me 'senpai.'"

Matt snorted. "Seriously?"

"Yup."

"You sound way too proud of that."

"You get your slobbering, crazy fangirls. I get a loyal friend who looks up to my athletic and leadership skills."

Matt slowly chewed a piece of chicken. "And what am I?"

"Eh, I'm not gonna say that. We just agreed."

"Want me to slobber all over you, then?"

Tai leaned back and spread his arms wide. "I'm all yours." He held a straight expression for all of a breath before he was hunched over the table, laughing like someone half his age.

Matt continued eating and took in the sight, even as his lips trembled against mirth.

"Oh, man." Tai stood with his empty glass in hand. As he passed he clapped Matt on the shoulder, squeezed and said,

"It's gonna be a great year."

* * *

"Ow. God... don't shove the tissue through my nose and into my brain." Tai squeezed his eyes shut and let excess moisture flood out and dribble down his cheeks.

Sora muttered, "That might do you some good. Maybe it'd loosen whatever was stuck up there in the first place."

Tai would have snorted, if he weren't afraid of the deluge of blood and phlegm that would probably follow. Instead he scowled, but the expression didn't illicit sympathy or caution from Sora, who proceeded to twist another tissue into a funnel, and unceremoniously shoved it up his other nostril.

"Ow. You know, you could be a little more gentle." Tai glanced behind him at the bed. "I notice you didn't smack Matt around with that ice pack."

Matt grunted, but didn't sit up, or remove the ice filled plastic back from the left side of his face.

Sora rolled her eyes. "Matt hasn't been complaining non-stop since he got here."

"Hey, I'm the injured one here. Have some sympathy. Ow!" Tai yelped when Sora rubbed an alcohol soaked cloth into the scrape along his cheek.

"And you could learn to stop acting like a ten year old who doesn't want to go to the doctor."

"Yeah, well. Joe wasn't available, so you were the next best thing."

"Thanks." There was no anger or irritation in Sora's voice, even as she slapped a band aid over Tai's freshly cleaned wound. She stepped back as though to admire her handiwork. Tai smiled.

"And? How do I look?"

Sora sighed. "Tai, what exactly happened?"

Tai grimaced. "Ask Matt. He started it. I just had to pull his ass out of the fire."

"Excuse me?" Matt rose and removed the ice pack, revealing a swollen, purple welt around his eye and cheek. "You're the one who said, 'Hey assholes, I bet we can take on all five of you, no problem.'"

Tai turned fully to face Matt. "And we _did. _I mean, come on. We faced down Myotismon and the Dark Masters, and you're telling me you didn't think we could take on a bunch of trash talking pricks who think they can do whatever they want just because of their family names? And anyway, you threw the first punch."

"At _one _guy. Because he wouldn't leave that underclassman alone."

"And I made sure his asshole friends knew what would happen to them if they pulled shit like that again."

"Oh yeah, Tai. You. Just you." Matt reapplied the compress.

Tai waved his hand. "We've had worse." He turned back to Sora and grinned. "Well, was that a good enough reason for you? Defending the downtrodden?"

Sora shook her head. "Or defending your ego." But she smiled none the less. "You are right about us having had worse, though. I don't think anything will ever compare to being turned into a key chain by a sword throwing, psychotic clown."

Tai grinned. "Two against one, Matt."

"Oh for...it's not a competition. Ass."

"There's a lot of 'ass' going around here," Tai said. "I think we should shift topics."

Matt groaned. Sora didn't dignify Tai's comment with any response.

"Matt, Matt. Being a drama queen. Relax. It's done. We won. We beat the bad guy. Easy."

"This isn't the Digital World, Tai. It's not as easy as just pummeling someone and walking away." Sora offered her criticism as she usually did, calmly and without refrain.

"Tai's expression shifted, becoming sharper and serious. "There's no way I'll ever let someone like Yue and those other guys get away with shit like that." Tai looked behind his shoulder again. Matt had removed the pack and was sitting up again, his expression equally solemn.

"It would have been enough to take out the leader. But," Matt cut Tai off with a raise of his hand. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel good taking out those other guys."

Tai grinned. "Atta boy."

"Tai, if you're done patting yourself on the back..." Sora left the question unasked, hoping she wouldn't have to reiterate what they'd talked about the previous week.

Tai nodded. "Matt, are you good enough to come over here, or should we go over there?"

Matt responded with a long suffering, guttural sigh.

"Fine. Jeez." Tai stood slowly, gingerly, and ambled over to the bed. He stopped at the edge and looked down at Matt. After a few moments of contemplation, Tai brought his hand down, lightly touching the back of Matt's hand, still resting on top of the ice pack, with the tips of his fingers.

Matt's visible eye widened, his lips parted before tightening. Then his body shifted abruptly, and his other hand started to move.

"Hey," Tai said softly. "I just wanted to see. Make sure you're really all right."

Matt stilled, but his credulity didn't return; slowly, his motions tempered as though through caution, Matt removed the pack.

It was a fresh bruise, the area of impact still swollen and flushed. In hours or a day, the skin would turn, red and purple, a badge of honor to some, Tai included. He'd do it all again, and gladly take Matt's black eye in the process. Tai's expression didn't change. Wincing wouldn't mean anything, wouldn't convey any sympathy or concern, just reinforce shock and uncertainty. They'd been through enough, both of them, all of them, to know how to react.

"It's not bad," Matt assured. "Like you said, nothing we haven't been through before. Hell, I think you gave me one like this when we were fighting in the forest." The brief upturn of Matt's lips saved Tai from any guilt.

"Thanks for the reminder," Tai spoke affectionately. He turned and caught Sora's expression, unreadable but on the cusp of something.

_Probably hysterical disbelief. _Tai pulled his own face, even as he felt heat rise to his cheeks. He could only clear his throat and try to speak in his still dry voice.

"It's all clear. Just...making sure I'm not being too big of an insensitive jerk."

"I won't comment," Matt said.

Tai laughed, his previous discomfort still showing through.

"Yeah. Well, let's get started, I guess." He sat down, his back resting against the side of the bed; Sora could take the chair, as far as Tai was concerned. She didn't break eye contact with Tai, and he was forced to look away, even as he started speaking.

"So these other kids. They've got their work cut out for them, if they're going to keep being this squeamish."

Sora frowned, her attention now dispersed between two parties.

"They're doing a good enough job with what they have to work with. And TK and Kari are there to help them through, even if we aren't."

"TK and Kari," Tai repeated. He didn't like the idea of his sister, and even Matt's brother, of assuming the whole burden of breaking through built up senses of right and wrong, like snapping that one bad bone to reset it. Tai winced at the thought.

"TK can handle it," Matt said with quiet confidence. "He's been through enough. Devimon. Piedmon. I don't think the Digimon Emperor can throw out anything worse than that." He paused. "He basically is Devimon, only with a cape and sunglasses."

"But he's human." Sora placed the fact before them, simply for consideration.

Tai closed his eyes. _Human. _As though that was even so special, intelligence, speech and the ability to build, to create. There were digimon who could and had reshaped the world just by thinking about it, whole advanced cities filled with robotic intelligence that rivaled anything on Earth. Were they supposed to let all the burn, because of one overblown bully?

"No." Tai surprised himself with how rough his voice sounded. He stood and walked toward the opposite wall so he could face both Sora and Matt. The feeling was short of what he'd experienced when he'd addressed the full group on the summit of Spiral Mountain, but he could let it carry him, impart some of that confidence and energy to them.

"We don't stand for that kind of tyranny. We didn't with evil digimon, why should we with an evil human? Being Digi Destined means we do whatever it takes to protect the Digital World. And our world. And if that means throwing everything we have against the Digimon Emperor, that's what we'll do. No matter what."

Tai finished and his pulse was steady, his chest relaxed. Sora leaned forward in her chair, disbelief plain on her face, and Matt...

Tai gave Matt his full attention. Matt's eyes were narrowed, in defiance of pain and injury, and he gripped the sheets hard enough to whiten his knuckles. He didn't speak, or couldn't.

"Tai," Sora spoke, breathless, "are you really saying you want to...kill him. Kill a teenager?" She shook her head, as though her body rejected the idea out of reflex.

"No," Tai said, just as sharply as before. "I don't want to kill anyone. I'd never want to. But if we have to, if there's no other way except to attack him, only him, directly with everything we have, then that's what we have to do."

Sora didn't relent. "When Digimon are destroyed they come back. Their data is reconfigured, but they come back. People don't. If we..." And now she laughed, helplessly, "if we do this, it's permanent." She looked Tai full in the eyes. "Is that something you're prepared for?"

"I don't think you can ever prepare for that." Matt took up the conversation.

Tai nodded, then let his shoulders slump. "Look, I'm not saying I'm some hardened assassin. But we can't let this guy win. That's it. I can't back down from that. But if it comes to life or death..." Tai swallowed heavily, "I." The word stalled in Tai's throat. His mouth was partially open, as if to form new words, but his body wouldn't obey him, and he was left stranded.

"_We _do this," Matt's voice, cold and clear, issued from his now relaxed frame. "If it's on anyone, it's going to be on us. Not TK. Not Kari. Or any of the new kids. And not just on you, Tai."

"Don't make yourselves martyrs for them," Sora said softly.

Matt shook his head. "We're not. We're just preparing ourselves, since Davis and the others aren't ready for something like this."

"And we are?"

"More than they are." Matt hesitated. "Sora, if you don't..."

"Matt, I know what being Digi Destined means, just like you and Tai. I just don't want to rush into doing something that I'll never be able to take back."

"And that's why we'd have to do it." Tai regained his voice, his old energy, and both Sora and Matt looked to him, and Tai could only hear it, Matt's strong, controlled voice. _We. _He strained to suppress a smile.

Sora folded her hands in her lap and seemed to examine them. She always had a special kind of poise, even on the soccer field, something Tai could match when he was at this best as center forward, but otherwise left behind for his casual, almost careless gait and posture.

"There's a big difference between doing this because we're desperate, and because we've run out of options. I won't go along with it unless we reach that point. We have to be sure. Absolutely sure. Because we can't take this back. And I don't know what it would do to any of us."

Tai couldn't say anything in the wake of those words. He settled for nodding, even though he didn't need to convince himself, anymore than he could deny that it was part of his responsibility. Always had been.

"What about the others? Sora asked. "They need to know."

"We're the closest to this right now. Joe's in med school, I haven't talked to Izzy for a few days, Mimi isn't even in the country, and TK and Kari do not get anywhere near this. For right now. It's us." Tai looked at Matt, and the word danced on his lips again.

_Us. _


	2. Chapter 2

Things pick up a bit here, relationship wise. Let me know if this is too verbose, and especially if Matt and Tai's interactions seem forced, unnatural, or out of character. This chapter takes place after 'Iron Vegiemon'.

* * *

"Damn it." Matt winced and dropped the knife, his finger already crimson to the knuckle. He turned the faucet on and washed his wound out until the water flowing in the sink turned clear again.

"And it's deep, too. Terrific." Matt gritted his teeth and walked to the bathroom. Thankfully, his mother and TK had taken his advice and were sitting in the living room, watching the news. Unfortunately, there were no band aids or rubbing alcohol in the cabinet above the sink.

"Well, that's." Matt slammed the cabinet shut.

"Matt? Is everything all right?" His mother's voice sounded dimly through the closed door.

"Fine." Matt dropped his voice to a whisper. "I just gave myself a worse injury cutting vegetables than that black ring prick gave me with his enslaved digimon. It's great." He opened the door with enough control to keep it from hitting the wall, turned, and came face to face with his brother.

"Matt..."

"Where do you keep the band-aids in this place? Who doesn't have band aids in the bathroom?" Matt dug the nail of his thumb just under the cut, numbing the pain and stemming anymore blood flow.

TK remained silent and passive for a few seconds before he said,

"I'll get you one." He left Matt standing in the hall. Matt shifted his weight from one foot to the other, cleared his throat when it dried moments later. For the first time since arriving, he examined the place. It was sterile. White. Even the wooden floor looked like someone had painted it onto a canvas, and if he would just rub his foot against the boards hard enough, he'd scrape through to the white surface.

Matt shook his head. What the hell was he even thinking about? He was tired. That was the problem. Tired. And a stranger in his own mother's house.

_Thanks, Tai, for the great idea. Should have known better than to take that kind of advice from someone who lets Davis call him 'senpai.' _

Matt paused his train of thought. Tai. This was his fault, really. So why shouldn't he be here to enjoy the fruits of his idea?

TK returned just as Matt was about to start looking for the phone.

"Here. Just in case you need another, we keep these in the cupboard above the washer and dryer." TK smiled as he spoke, and Matt relaxed. At least they weren't both going stir crazy.

"Thanks," Matt said. His finger felt better seconds after the band aid went on.

"Seems like band-aids are becoming a regular thing with you. And Tai." Matt sighed. TK hadn't really gotten the full story of the incident a few weeks ago, and Matt wasn't in the mood to tell him. After today, Tai's declaration of all out war against the Digimon Emperor struck a far too pleasant cord in Matt's mind and body, a hum that passed through his muscles, like he'd just immersed himself in hot water.

"Things always get a little out of control when Tai's around." Matt wouldn't have been able to pull a smile, so he settled for calm eye contact. TK looked skeptical, but didn't press.

"Are you going to be able to finish by yourself?"

"Yeah, no problem. Could I use your phone?"

TK frowned. "Sure. There's one in the study, and I think I left the cordless in the kitchen."

"I haven't seen it," Matt said quickly.

"OK...well. Help yourself to the one in the study, I guess." TK stepped closer. "Matt are you OK? With what happened to Gabumon?"

His brother spoke, calmly, knowingly. _Of course he would. With Padamon. He knows, at least. _

"Yeah. I'm good. Tired, but good."

"Are you going to call Tai?"

For his part, Matt only let his eyes widen a fraction. Then he relaxed.

"I'm a little out of my element right now."

"What? With us?" TK didn't hide the surprise and hurt in his voice.

"No. You know what I mean."

"I don't. I thought things were good between you and mom."

"They're fine. It's just...awkward when we're together. Look, she still thinks I'm wasting my life with the band. She's not in my face about it, but I can tell she doesn't like all the time I spend." Matt sniffed the air before TK could respond.

"Crap." He ran to the kitchen where a pot of boiling eggs had started to froth onto the hot stove top. He gingerly took the copper pot by the handle and moved it to the side. The spilled water sizzled and hissed against the coils.

"TK? Matt? Is everything all right?" Their mother called from the other room.

"Fine," Matt called back. "So much for a quiet, clean dinner." Matt lifted the lid of the other large pot. The kombu and fish cakes were still moving along nicely in the soy broth. He drained the egg pot and filled it with cold water, stirred the broth pot, replaced its lid, and lowered the heat.

TK was still close by, no less focused than moments before.

Matt sighed. "TK, it's fine. I'll get through this dinner and then. I'll move on with the band, and mom will keep having her doubts. That's just how things go."

"Great, but why do you need Tai over here?"

"I don't _need _him over here. I just want to talk to him. In person." Matt brought the broth to a simmer, and continued to stir.

"About what happened today?" TK moved closer again, as though he thought proximity would lend him more insight into Matt's thoughts.

"Sure," Matt replied tersely. The pot went off the burner.

TK stood there as Matt started cracking the eggs against the counter. He stepped back when Matt was half way through peeling all of them.

"All right. Go call Tai if you need to." TK was resigned. Matt tilted his head away from his work. TK clenched and unclenched his hands, took deep breaths. Finally, he seemed to return to normal. "Just remember, we're here too. Me and mom."

Matt stilled. His chest tightened and his throat dried. He should have known that TK wouldn't just brush his aloofness off. Ever since coming back from the Digital World three years ago, they'd agreed to treat each other as equals, to make sure that they were a family, both parents included. And he'd done a fantastic job of that keeping up that bargain, hadn't he? But this Digital World situation was different; it was more profound than letting TK be on his own. TK's integrity, his humanity was at stake. Matt had shouldered a dark burden before, and he could do it again. He wasn't alone. He smiled, made eye contact with TK.

"I know."

TK returned the expression, though it looked weak to Matt. That couldn't be helped.

After TK left the kitchen, and Matt had finished peeling the eggs, he dropped them into the broth and walked to the study. Matt picked up the phone and hesitated. TK was right there. Even his mother...Matt rolled his eyes.

Yeah, he could just picture how that conversation would go. 'So there's this psychotic freak who's enslaving Digimon, and me and Tai and Sora might just have to kill him. Got any advice?'

Matt dialed. The phone rang twice.

"Kamiya residence. May I ask who's calling?"

"Hi, Mrs. Kamiya. It's Matt. Is Tai there?"

"Yes he is. Hold on." He heard muffled voices, then a scratching sound.

"Hey Matt. What's up?"

Matt's chest tightened briefly again, then immediately relaxed, leaving an odd warmth behind. Tai's voice was firm and assuring, even in its levity. If ever a smile could be heard, it was Tai's.

"Uh." And suddenly Matt didn't know what to say. I need to talk to you? That seemed trivial. But why not? None of this was trivial, or forgettable.

"Matt?"

He hated when people said his name like that, like a reflex, as though he were always one step from the edge of a fall, was flailing wildly and needed someone to pull him back.

Matt schooled his tone.

"I'm at my mom's. With TK. Would you mind coming over in about twenty minutes?" Matt left it at that. Tai could infer a reason, a need.

"Sure. No problem."

And that was that. Matt would have laughed if Tai weren't still on the line.

"Great. See you then." The line went dead, and Matt returned to the kitchen. The broth was still hot, so Matt lifted the pot and carried it to the table, where he'd already set out bowls and cups.

"All right guys. Come and get it." Matt made a face after he'd called out. Usually he and his father just sat down without preamble, and dinner went from there. But if TK or their mother thought Matt's invitation awkward, they didn't show it.

"It looks delicious, Matt."

"Thanks, mom. We'll see, though." Matt sat last, and took his share in the same order. For some reason the compliments that followed moments later surprised him, even if he thought it was next to impossible to ruin oden.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, and Matt thought he'd be able to get through with a few brief comments about his day.

"How are things going with the band, Matt?"

Matt paused in chewing a piece of fish. He swallowed, took a drink of water and tentatively answered,

"Pretty well. We're going to have a concert in a few months, so we're getting ready for that bit by bit. There's still a lot of sh- stuff, stuff to work out." He rushed over the mistake, and his mother didn't seem to notice, or care.

"That's good. It's...well it means you're getting experience with organization and meeting deadlines. It's important."

Matt frowned. She chose her words slowly and carefully. He eyed TK.

"And I hear you're also working at a music store some days."

Matt gave TK a longer appraisal before responding. His brother looked back with prefect innocence. "Yeah. I work in the strings section. Guitars. Lots of kids want to learn to play, but they don't realize how much time and discipline it takes." He paused. "That's another important thing music teaches you, you know?"

His mother nodded, quickly. "Of course. When I was your age, my parents forced me to take violin lessons, and I fought them every step of the way. Now..." His mother trailed off, seemed to reconsider.

Matt spoke quietly. "Mom, you don't really wish you'd kept playing the violin, do you?"

She looked, maybe for a flash, embarrassed, then quashed the expression and replaced it with a small smile.

"No, I don't suppose I do. I just wasn't talented that way. But really, Matt. It's wonderful that you've found something you love, and that you're good at." She laughed, genuinely. "You don't really realize until later how rare that is."

Matt couldn't hide his surprise. "Uh. Right. I mean, I guess I'll be shocked if the band really makes it big, you know. To the point where we're on national TV or high on the charts. But I'll keep trying." He lowered his voice. "No matter what."

His mother nodded. "It's still important to have other options, of course. Maybe you could go into engineering, or even accounting as a backup."

TK made a face. "Oh come on, mom. Accounting's the most boring thing in the world. You don't even have to think to do it. Matt's a great musician. Even if he doesn't make it big, he can still go into instrument making, or teaching."

"TK, you're uncle from Kyoto is an accountant, and he's a very intelligent man. Sometimes you just have to choose the job you have to do in order to survive, over the one you really want to do. You can always do what you really love on the side."

"Well, yeah, but..."

Matt effectively left the sphere of conversation at that point, and he didn't really mind. Matt just wondered what TK had said to their mother while they were in the living room together. 'Please make Matt feel like he isn't wasting his life away?' No. TK wouldn't belittle him like that. More likely he'd come up with an actually convincing argument. Go figure.

Matt finished draining his bowl just as the doorbell buzzed. He felt the same relief he had after making the phone call.

"Hm. I wasn't expecting anyone at this time." Their mother frowned, looking briefly confused. TK just sighed.

"It's Tai," Matt said quickly. "I invited him over because I need to ask him something in person. And it'll be easier to talk to him on the way back."

"You're leaving that soon?"

The door buzzed again. Matt stood.

"No, no. I'll clean up, and then stick around for a bit. Hold on." He went to the door, hoping he didn't look as agitated as he felt.

Tai appeared as relaxed as ever on the opposite side of the frame. He smiled.

"Hey. Something smells good."

"I didn't invite you over to feed you."

"No," Tai said as stepped in. "But you will anyway."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Matt shut the door, and really expected to see TK staring at them when he turned, but instead saw only the empty hall. Tai was already talking, having greeted everyone.

"Sorry about dropping by on such short notice, Ms. Takaishi. I just forgot about this project Matt and I have been working on, and he had to call and get me back in gear."

It wasn't an outright lie, but the ease with which Tai executed his omission still left Matt with a sense of unease, more so when he couldn't think up of anything close to the truth that he'd want to share.

"It's all right, Tai. I just wish you'd showed up sooner, so we could have all sat down for dinner together."

Tai laughed. Deeply. Warmly. "No problem. I'll just scoop up the leftovers."

"Matt didn't mention anything about a project," TK said suddenly. Matt had to actively restrain himself from glaring at him. Tai had no such trouble.

"Eh, it's just something for school. We have to come up with points and counterpoints for engaging in preemptive strikes during times of peace. Then we're gonna research the effectiveness of carrying out strategic, precise attacks. Military targets. Political assassinations. That sort of thing."

"Sounds fascinating." Matt's mother had nodded along during Tai's summary, thought he wasn't even giving her the brunt of his attention. TK just sat, transfixed and silent, his brow furrowed as he tried to puzzle out the implications of Tai's words.

Matt's voice was higher than he'd intended. "Tai. How about you help me clean up? You can get rid of those leftovers too."

Tai stood and started gather plates. "Just lead the way and I'll follow."

"Yeah, like that's ever going to happen."

"Hm?"

"Nothing." He addressed TK. "We'll take care of everything in the kitchen, and we'll be back in a few minutes."

"Fine." Was the curt reply he received.

Matt wanted to stay, to try to explain away TK's mounting suspicions, but he didn't know what to say. Another reason he needed to see Tai. Matt relented, and followed his friend.

Tai set down the large cooking pot, and was ready to set into it, but Matt stopped him. He turned on the faucet, and struggling to keep his face neutral, drew Tai away from the counter.

"What the hell were you doing in there? Trying to tell TK what we're planning?" Matt thought his voice was calm and low, all things considered.

Tai was nonplussed. Of course.

"We're not planning anything. It's just something we talked about. Something we might have to do. And what was I supposed to say? That you called me over here because you didn't want to talk to your family about what happened?"

Matt flinched, but kept his tone. "I can't talk to my mom about the Digital World. And I don't want TK having to deal with anymore than he already has to."

Tai sighed. "What about what you told him before? That you were done treating him like a kid?"

"Oh yeah, like you're one to talk. What about Kari? Have you told her that we might," Matt lowered his voice further, "that we might have to kill someone?" The word and the idea associated with it still curled against Matt's spine like a jagged ball of ice, and he couldn't repress a shiver.

Tai stepped closer, and Matt could even feel the extra heat of having another body next to him.

"I'm not talking about that. I haven't told Kari, for the same reason you haven't told TK. But you can still talk to him about Gabumon. Do you know how pissed off I was on that first day, when Agumon needed my help against that creep, and I couldn't do anything?"

"No." Matt cut off the water with sharp jerk of his wrist. "It's not that. I was pissed, at first, but when I saw how hurt Gabumon was, I." Matt stopped, realized how hard his grip on the edge of the counter was. "I wanted to end him, Tai. The Digimon Emperor. I didn't just wanna beat him, or humiliate him, or lock him away. I wanted him gone. And I wanted it to hurt."

Matt finished, and he couldn't look at Tai, didnd't want to, even though he knew it had been Tai who'd proposed the idea, it was Matt who had offered his calm, calculated approval. Back then it had all been abstract, when none of them had felt directly threatened. Or maybe. Maybe Tai had already gone through the same motions, fantasized about the same release. Or maybe Matt wasn't at all ready to take on something of this magnitude. Sora was right. If they went into this without thinking, they would never be able to take it back, and Matt was acting out of reflexive, animal rage.

"You're not the first one, Matt. What do you think I wanted to do to Myotismon when he was threatening Kari?" Matt saw Tai's face as a collection of hard lines, offset by his eye, which still glittered with defiant energy.

"That's different. Myotismon wasn't human."

Tai scowled. "That's a shitty excuse and you know it. This guy doesn't care about humans or digimon. And that's not even the point. You're beating yourself up for something you thought of doing, in the heat of a bad moment. Not something you did. Big difference."

Matt shut his eyes. He was tired. School, practice, digimon, dinner. It was like he'd layered extra lives onto his already hectic existence, and right now, all he really wanted to do was sleep.

"Let's just clean the dishes." Without waiting for Tai's response, Matt turned the faucet back on, and brought the soiled bowls under the stream of warm water. Tai stepped next to him, and accepted the clean dishes for drying. They worked without comment until the last bowl had been scrubbed and wiped, and by then, the band-aid on Matt's finger was soggy and heavy, and the cut beneath burned.

"You should have let me wash," Tai said.

Matt shrugged. What was done was done.

"What happened to your finger anyway?"

"I cut myself. No big deal."

"With the knife I gave you?" Tai sounded...too concerned for Matt's liking.

"Yeah." Matt bit his lip against the pain of the cut. "What of it?"

"Just wondering."

Matt swallowed. Tai spoke so softly. Not even like he was trying to keep from being overheard. It was as though he was afraid that if he raised his voice, something connecting them would crack and crumble.

"Oh," Matt said, his mouth dry. "It's fine." He cleared his throat. "I was just being clumsy." He snorted. "It's Gabumon, and TK and what we talked about a few weeks ago. Even my mom. And it all just sort of shit on me today."

"Matt," Tai said.

Matt turned, just in time to see Tai's face loom in front of him, then blur as Tai's lips touched his, briefly but fully. The contact was hot and Matt could smell something sharp and sweet. Some conditioner or shampoo, mixed with sweat.

Matt backed away, eyes wide and heart thumping; his breathing was hard and fast, and when he spoke, his voice was deep and guarded.

"Why did you do that?"

Tai was smiling, kindly and without energy or enthusiasm. There was an undiluted joy to the expression, one which Matt had never had directed at him, and couldn't comprehend or place.

"It was nicer than punching you."

Matt's voice rose in volume and pitch. "What?"

Tai's smile faltered, then returned, this time more ordinary, and Matt couldn't help but feel a dull ache at the realization.

"I wanted to. And I thought you'd want me to." He stopped smiling. "If you didn't, I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

The ache sharpened, and shortened Matt's breath.

"No. It's fine." He couldn't stop staring at Tai, couldn't relax his eyes or legs or back. On pure instinct, he would have reached out, towards Tai's warmth, his hands, his smile. And his voice. His reassuring voice, suffused with memory and kindness.

"If you want me to go, I'll go." Tai didn't move.

"No. I asked you over, and. You didn't do anything wrong." Matt strained to sound conversational, but he was already looking everywhere except Tai, and felt his hands start to sweat. "Come on. Let's. Why don't you grab whatever you want from the leftovers, and we can go join my mom and TK?"

"OK." Tai didn't sound certain, but scooped the remaining broth, fish and vegetables into a bowl and followed Matt into the living room.

TK and his mother sat on the couch, a cushion apart. The TV was turned to a documentary about an author that Matt had never heard of. Tai's lack of commentary, or any facial expression besides indifference grated on Matt. He paused as Tai occupied the chair adjacent to the couch, and started eating, slowly.

"You two took a while cleaning the plates. Is everything all right?" His mother meant it in jest, but Matt was so sick of the question, he grunted in response and took a seat in the vacant chair across from Tai. He shifted, then stared at the TV screen, and wondered just how long Tai had wanted to kiss him. His cheeks flushed. Crap. And he just knew TK was giving him that wondering look, a non-verbal 'what's wrong, Matt?'

Tai chewed noisily. "This is really great, Matt. Wish I could cook like this."

Matt shook his head, and muttered, "It's easy." What was he supposed to say?

"You could consider becoming a chef, Matt. There's a lot of demand for that sort of skill right now."

"Ah. Thanks, mom. But cooking is more of a...stress relief." One that wasn't working, but who was even asking, besides Tai? And he didn't ask, he just. God. Matt's face heated all over again. Matt heard the sound of ceramic against glass. So Tai had abandoned food in favor of him. Matt didn't think he could handle seeing that bare, simple expression of sympathy on Tai's face, just another...just another way of cajoling him out of a mood. Was that why Tai had kissed him? He wanted to, he said, but there had to be more to it than that.

Matt 'hrrmed', and drew the attention of everyone in the room. He risked a glance at TK, and his brother had gone from 'is everything all right' to 'what the hell is wrong with you right now?'

_I don't know,_ Matt thought. _Maybe you can tell me, TK. _

TK would reassure him, tell him he was doing the best he could do, juggling everything, and that things would be all right, they'd fight through. That was Hope. Plain and simple. Except sometimes you could only retreat, inward or away, and Matt knew that was just what TK would never do. Shining Hope.

Matt rubbed his hands together. And Tai. Tai would just kiss him, apparent.

Unbidden, he smiled, and didn't care if his mother and brother saw. He hoped Tai saw. The moment of joy was snuffed out, and Matt returned to the possibility that the only reason Tai had done so in the first place was to distract him, because he just didn't know how else to deal with him anymore. Matt sighed, self deprecating. This was the time in the forest, all over again. He just wanted to sleep.

"I should actually get going," said Tai. He stood, and Matt's gaze followed his rising eyes. Matt didn't need the hints Tai was giving to know to follow.

"Yeah," he said, slowly, tiredly. I'll walk you down."

Tai gave his thanks, said his goodbyes, and left with Matt.

As the door closed behind them, Matt put his hands in his pockets, even though it wasn't very cold. He tilted his head up and breathed the evening air in deeply. Fall. He could smell it, the summer heat tapering off and plateauing into a fresh, cool aroma as the trees started to turn and shed their leaves.

They walked to the stairs. Tai always preferred them to the elevator, said they'd have plenty of time to stand around listening to shitty music when they were half deaf and blind. The case was wide enough for them to walk side by side, and they did, their shoulders bumping lightly with every few steps.

Maybe it was just wishful imaging, but Matt thought he could still pick out Tai's scent, even when diluted by everything else in the air. Had he always picked up on it, without knowing, or had the kiss awakened sharper perceptions in him, when he was around Tai? The possibility shouldn't have surprised him. Gabumon could pick of Matt's scent out of thousands of others, across he didn't know how many spans of forest and rock and water. Still Gabumon had never needed a declaration of romantic intention from Matt to be able to do that.

Matt stopped at the foot of the third floor case. Tai walked another two steps before he too stopped. He did a full turn, and looked up, as though he'd been expecting their positions all along.

"Tai, what are we now?"

"What we've always been." He was infuriatingly calm.

"Yeah? That's it then? Nothing's changed?" There was that ache again, that Matt now hated, coupled with a fresh current of anger.

"I didn't say that. We're two guys who like each other. Even before today. After. Well, I guess if you want, we can be two guys who like each other a little more."

_If _I _want. So it's all on me now. _But Matt couldn't say anything to that. Or wouldn't. It was all the same in the end.

"Why did you kiss me?"

Tai stayed silent, and for that space, Matt swore he'd broken down a barrier, somehow caught his friend in a lie, and now there would be an indelible chasm between them, so they could move next to each other, parallel, and without contact.

"I wanted to." Tai dropped his voice, and it was breathy and filled with need, need to convince and, to be believed.

"And when you told me." Matt swallowed. "That it was easier than punching me..."

Tai stepped forward. "That was true too. I wanted to make you feel better. I didn't think I could say anything, so I...acted."

"Just like always," Matt mused.

Tai laughed. "You got me." Then he looked uncomfortable, as though at a loss for the first time. "And I am sorry, if that's not what you wanted."

"You don't have to say that."

Tai regarded him for a moment. "OK." He moved up, so they were only a step apart, and even then, Matt thought that the feedback from their combined body heat would burn their skin.

"We don't have to change. If you want me to kiss you again, I'll do it. If you don't, I won't."

Matt wet his lips. "That simple, huh?"

Tai smiled. "Yeah."

"All right."

"All right what?"

"I get it. And if you want, we can. Maybe when some of this clears up." Yes, these were the brilliant oratory skills of someone who aspired to make his way by writing song lyrics.

But Tai wasn't one to agonize over words and their faceted meanings. He acceded to Matt's request, stepped back, and retained his smile.

"I'll see you around then. Tomorrow, obviously." Matt rushed to speak, and felt stupid afterward, but it didn't matter, because Tai just nodded.

"Mhm. Try to relax until then. And talk to TK."

"Anything else while you're at it?" Matt felt at ease again, trading lazy quips with his friend.

"Yeah. The plan, what he talked about? Don't worry about it too much. We'll handle it. You said so yourself." And with that, Tai gave Matt's shoulder a squeeze, turned, and walked down the stairs, leaving Matt with the now distant ache in his chest, and the slow, rising undercurrent of fear that he'd again started something he'd never be able to control.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to the Guest who reviewed chapter 2 of this story. It's always wonderful to hear that people enjoy my roundabout way of presenting a story.

* * *

"Tai, maybe we should take a break." Agumon didn't sound winded, or even tired; he'd kept pace with Tai for the last three hours, walking alongside him, silent and alert.

"How are you feeling?" Tai halted and gave his companion a once over. He seemed no worse for wear than when they'd set out in the morning, but that might have been because recently, everyone looked like they'd been wrung out.

"Fine. But...there's nothing here. Not even any hostile digimon." Agumon tilted his head up to indicate the trees, with their dark leaves and light bark. Sunlight sparsely penetrated the canopy, enough to light their way, but too little to heat their bodies and ward away the damp chill of the morning. Even with more light, the forest wouldn't have been any less unsettling. All the sounds of wildlife were always a distance away, like a far off echo that receded the closer anyone came to the source. If there was anyplace in the Digital World that could intersect with Dark Shore, it would be here.

"I know. But it's also where Izzy said to look. The reflection point." Actually he'd called it a measure preserving mapping in space, though not necessarily time. Tai understood the general idea, despite the technical language. Draw two parallel lines on a flat surface, and you could always connect one point on the top line to one on the bottom with a perpendicular segment.

Agumon frowned. "I still don't really get that. How do we know if the worlds are still touching?"

"We don't. That's why we have to look." Tai started walking again. But no mention of how that connection would change if the lines were bent and twisted. Even Izzy couldn't find a way to predict that. Yet.

Agumon caught up with Tai a few steps later. The forest was growing darker. Tai checked to make sure it was because the branches were becoming more numerous, and clustering together more densely, and not for otherworldly, malignant reasons. Kari said she'd been transported without even realizing what was happening, that she'd been drawn to a specific spot, just like those years ago in Puppetmon's forest.

"Maybe it was another message, someone trying to speak through her," Tai muttered. Only this seemed to be just the opposite kind of messenger.

"Tai, you still haven't said what happens if we're sucked into this place. How will we get back?" Agumon didn't sound fearful, merely curious.

"We'll cross that bridge if we get to it," Tai replied, with no small amount of levity.

"What bridge? I don't see a bridge." Agumom looked right and left, up and down.

Tai laughed softly. "Never mind. Just another human expression." Maybe after this was over, he could teach Agumon more about how people talked to each other without spelling everything out.

_Just like Matt and me. _

Well, in Tai's case, no words at all. Matt hadn't said anything about what happened in his mother's apartment, even when they'd eaten in Matt's empty one the next day. Everything worked just like before, which was fine. He'd leaped forward, and hadn't landed on his ass. Couldn't ask for much more than that.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about getting sucked in anyway," Tai rekindled his focus, abruptly. If the Dark Shore was anything like what had happened before, then it needed a trigger, a medium, as Sora had said, and Izzy had accepted, in lieu of a better term.

"I wish I were as sure as you," Agumon said warily. He'd started turning his head to every side more frequently. With the positioning of his eyes, Tai thought he looked like an agitated bird, though he'd never say it aloud.

"Is there something out there?" Tai asked quietly, and slowed.

"I dunno. It's like I can almost smell something, and then it just gets swept away." Agumon shivered. "It's creepy."

"Yeah," Tai conceded. He stopped and stared ahead, and could only make out the first few yards of trees before the trunks dimmed and faded to black.

"It really is getting darker." Tai looked up, and pinpoints of light still shone through some of the leaves. "And it shouldn't be." His grip on his Digi-vice tightened. They'd destroyed the nearby control spire, so Tai wasn't much concerned about running into anything they couldn't handle.

"Kari said she didn't see anything before she vanished..." Agumon left a note of hope in the statement.

"Yeah, but who knows what else is stumbling around out here."

_Maybe the Dark Masters decided to come back and join the party. _

With that cheery thought in mind, Tai crossed the boundary, from dim canopy to dark wood. His body tensed. It was like plunging into a lake in the dead of winter. But his teeth didn't chatter, and the rest of his body body stiffened without cause. Tai's fingers dug into his triceps, his shoulders arched toward his ears, and his calves were on the verge of cramping. He exhaled loudly, wetly, like he'd just breached the surface of that icy lake, and then.

Screaming. He looked around frantically.

Shouting. Someone was...

Tai reared, up and over, until he was shambling across the forest floor, his feet and palms kicking up dirt and leaves and dust.

No. No. He couldn't. He couldn't help, he couldn't save them. Couldn't move. Run. Walk. Jump. Couldn't. He could only listen to the scream.

"Tai!"

"Get. Get away from me." He said that evenly, a miraculous control seizing his voice, while his body trembled and his mind seized.

"Tai!"

No. No he had to...

Tai's next breath caught in his throat and he coughed until his eyes watered. He raised his head, and he hadn't moved; he was on all fours, fingers buried up to the joints in cold dirt. He hadn't moved. The second realization made him want to laugh, but he just coughed again.

"Tai!" Agumon was by his side, voice and body driven by the same urgency of battle.

Tai wiped his mouth.

"I'm fine," he croaked. His next few breaths were hollow and shallow. Agumon did his best to rub Tai's back, a motion he'd never tried to imitate before now. Tai appreciated the gesture, even if his partner's claws felt too close and too sharp against his thin jacket.

Tai righted himself after a few minutes. His head throbbed, and he badly wanted water to drink. It felt like he'd just played his all through a closely matched soccer game, and had still only managed to win through a stroke of luck.

"Tai?" Agumon sounded no less concerned.

"I'm good. I don't know what happened." He coughed again. "Someone screamed, though. I don't know where it came from. You heard it too, right?"

"I did. I don't know if it was a Digimon or something else."

"Human," Tai asserted, voice still weak. "It was human." Tai stood, most of his weight going to his right leg. He stumbled forward and would have fallen, if Agumon hadn't been there to support him.

"Thanks," Tai said. After a few moments, he righted himself. Twilight shrouded his the trees, and the canopy was invisible from the ground, faded into deep obscurity.

"Agumon. What did...what did I do? Was I trying to run away from something?" The words curdled on Tai's tongue, twisted his lips and made his eyes narrow.

Agumon frowned. "No. You just fell down, on the ground, and wouldn't move. I didn't know what to do." He sounded so agitated, so genuinely worried, that Tai immediately wished he'd brought someone else along. Agumon couldn't defend Tai against something that had only a mental presence.

He smiled. "Hey, it's all right, Agumon. Like I said, I'm fine now. I just wish I knew what was going on here to begin with."

"We should leave. There's nothing here, and I don't like being a place where there are enemies I can't see."

Tai didn't say anything. Was this what Kari had gone through? No. She'd been able to see everything just like normal. Except there were digimon there, on the Dark Shore, different, twisted digimon that wanted to use Kari against something even more twisted than themselves. And Angewomon had beaten them back, with a regular attack. Maybe they were talking about two different places, and Tai had just stumbled upon one which...made him what? Afraid? Yes, afraid. But also unwilling, unable to overcome that fear. This place, for a moment, had made him...

"Uh, Tai?"

"Hm?" Tai glanced down, but Agumon's attention was focused behind them. He followed his digimon's line of sight.

The feeling drained from Tai's hands and chest. Light and shadow danced along a knife's edge to form the border of a gash in the air. Past the rift, there was the old forest, dim but bright in comparison, the welcoming beacon to signal the exit from a deep cave.

"What?" Tai breathed. He moved forward slowly, and started to extend his hand.

"Tai, be careful." Agumon quickly, voice tense.

Tai nodded, but didn't stop. "It's the other side of the forest." His eyes narrowed, Tai examined the flickering border of the rip, now bright, then dim, each aspect pushing, blooming then dying, but never vanishing or dominating.

Chaos. Flux. The words rose in Tai's mind, cloaked in Izzy's matter of fact voice. He would want to hear about this, would probably expect a detailed report, and Tai was boggled if he could even start to give one.

Tai's hand passed through the rift. Nothing. He'd expected warmth, maybe a flash of light. But he didn't feel any pain, or slick, rising terror. He might as well have been walking from the hall to the bathroom.

"I think it's safe to go through."

Agumon didn't offer an opinion, so Tai put one foot through, then the other, and within seconds, he found himself standing at the edge of the forest, the mid afternoon sun bearing down on him with all its force.

"Agumon?" Tai asked quietly. His hands hung loosely at his sides, and his fingers curled towards his palms, stalks bending lightly in the breeze. He looked directly at a thicket where the trees started to rise toward the sky.

Tai received only a noise of affirmation, and then Agumon leaped forward and up, claws shinning brilliantly in the light.

"No! Please, stop!"

Agumon halted in mid attack; he descended with his claws lowered, landed with a quick grace that belied his usual, ambling nature.

From the brush, a digimon slowly crawled forward, on four broad, squat paws. Its fur was a dull grey even in the light, its face round and open, as though on the verge of asking a long held question. The markings around its eyes and nose were red. Its ears twitched and curved toward its skull as though picking up a distant sound.

For a long, silent stretch, the digimon simply stared up at the sky, unblinking. Its mouth opened at some point, and remained so until Tai said,

"Who are you?"

No response. Just a shift of pupils, a fluttering of a transparent membrane, a claw scratching away at rock and soil.

Tai let out a long breath. A trick? An accidentally shattered control ring? Or something from the other side?

"Agumon. Do you recognize him?"

"No. I've never seen this kind of digimon before." Agumon hadn't taken his gaze off the interloper, and still kept himself in a fighting stance, ready to strike out at range or in melee.

"Agumon," the digimon said without inflection. His voiced sounded almost stuffed, the sound offset by a higher, juvenile tone.

_Almost like Gomamon. _

Finally their mystery mon blinked. His attention scattered, then refocused on Agumon. His ears went rigid.

"Agumon." Incredulity melded with delight, and he jumped, again and again.

"Agumon! Agumom! A normal digimon! Ah, I'm back! I'm..." His voice lost strength with each word, his limbs moved as though leaded with great weight, but he kept on, until he was sprawled on the ground, panting.

"I'm back," he whispered.

Tai ran forward and knelt next to the digiom.

"Hey, calm down. You're in pretty bad shape, you should..." Tai stopped as the digimon laughed, weakly.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not going to be around much longer anyway." There was a simple, terrible certainty in those words that froze the words on Tai's tongue. He'd heard it before. When Chuumon had taken Piedmon's attack against Mimi. After Whamon's head had been pierced clean through by River of Power. This wasn't the time to talk. He could only listen.

"So long. I was gone. For so long." The digimon looked to the sky again, just to make sure it was still there, still real. "I tried to find others, but they were all. They were dark. Evil. Wanted to hurt and tear." He stilled and shivered. Tai's hand hovered above the digimon's back; he didn't know what would happen, but he slowly moved his fingers through the matted fur, felt muscles stiffen, then relax.

"You're safe now," Tai said.

"Mmmm." It was a sound of contentment, probably the first he'd made in...

"What's your name?"

Silence. Tai continued the motions of his fingers, a light rubbing motion, back and forth, side to side. There was warmth beneath the fur, but even Tai could feel its intensity decreasing.

"It's all right," Tai said, though he didn't know what he meant by that. He kept on with the contact.

"So long. I don't even know how long. I lost. I lost track of it all. That forest. It never ended. Just went on and on. And nothing tasted right. The water or the food. Even the air. It felt cold sometimes for no reason, then normal." His voice trailed off, and the digimon's breathing increased.

After Tai felt the pulse beneath his fingers steady, he asked,

"Do you know how it happened?" Tai heard Agumon shift next to him. If it was too much, the digimon wouldn't have to answer, but they needed...Yes, they needed the information.

"It happened. One day. I don't know. I just crossed over. It was always dark here. But after. After He came, it got worse."

Tai's hand stiffened. "The Digimon Emperor."

His companion didn't seem phased.

"If that's what you call him. He built the towers. Enslaved others. But even before that, he would always come here. I don't know why. Maybe he was looking for something. Maybe he just liked the dark. But." The digimon stilled. His breathing sped, then slowed. Tai's legs were growing stiff and numb, but he continued to kneel. He wasn't sure how much time passed. The digimon would narrow his eyes to slits, then open them a margin wider. He would shift around in the grass, take deep breaths through his nose, savoring immediately familiar scents. All the while, his heart rate slowed.

"Mmmm." The digimon gathered it's limbs close to his body. Tai moved his hand, then saw wide eyes glistening in the light. His voice was so soft, Tai had to lean in to hear.

"I'd forgotten, what the sun and the sky were like. Thank you."

And he was gone.

* * *

Izzy still didn't know what to make of it all.

Tai leaned back and tried to make himself more comfortable against the side of the bed. He shouldn't have expected a miracle. Only his expectation of a reprimand had come to fruition.

"And Tai. Next time you decide to go on a field trip like this, take one of the others with you. Preferably me."

"Right. Next time I decide to have a run in with an alternate, evil dimension, you'll be at the top of my list of friends to call along."

Izzy let the sarcasm pass. "We don't know if it's evil. At least from a relative sense of 'us' vs 'them.' That's why..."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll invite you next time." Tai sighed. "What did you find out about the digimon I met up with?"

"Not much, unfortunately. I deduced that he was a sea animal type, with vaguely reptilian attributes. But beyond that, we don't have a name, attribute, or level. Not even an area of origin."

"Doesn't seem like a sea animal would be hanging around a forest," Tai muttered.

"No. But remember, it's possible that he was drawn to the Dark Shore, and wound up trapped in the 'in-between', so to speak."

"Well, that's nice to say, but it doesn't bring us any closer to an answer."

"It's a lot to process, Tai. Between you, Kari, and that digimon, we've got three different, maybe even contradictory accounts of what happens in the 'dark realm.'"

"I wasn't in the real dark realm, or whatever you wanna call it. Not like Kari was." Tai paused. "It's her crest." There wasn't a point in phrasing a question. He'd seen enough. Felt enough.

Izzy nodded. He looked so stoic, Tai was tempted to ask right there how his face hadn't frozen into one expression.

"Light and Dark. Kari's crest is the antithesis of what the Dark Shore represents. She has a strong connection, even if she can't control it."

"Yet." Always an eventuality. Always a way out.

"We'll see." Izzy typed something into his computer, and Tai, not for the first time, suspected he was updating some enormous spread sheet that detailed all the important occurrences of his life. He tried to smile at the thought, and that usually worked, but today all he could manage was a kind of tired recognition of a fond memory.

"I did find something else from the data on your Digivice, though. Come take a look."

Tai slowly pushed himself off the floor. His lower body tingled with pinpricks, and he really didn't feel like sitting again.

"All right," Tai grunted and lowered himself next to Izzy. "What am I looking at here?" He gestured at the screen, which was alight with black and white flecks, flickering into and out of existence. Taken as a whole, they formed into the shapes of trees, silhouettes on a moon-lit night.

"It's a representation of the data bits in the Digital World. The darker areas represent higher concentrations, and the white areas lower."

"And the white background is...air?"

"There's a very low concentration of particles, comparatively speaking. We'd have to increase magnification by a few orders of magnitude to make them out. If you want..."

"Izzy," Tai said, exasperated, but amused. "Maybe next time we can look at air."

"Oh. Right. Sorry. OK, what you're seeing is the regular Digital World. Sort of like looking out of your window on a clear, normal day.

Tai nodded. "I figured."

"Now. Watch what happens when you pass through the barrier." A few keystrokes, and the scene on the screen shifted. The flickering dots changed color; some black remained, but large chunks were torn out of the trees, and a dilute mist of blue dots settled all across the screen.

Tai raised his eye brows. "And what is that?"

"That. Is whatever composes the Dark Realm. Notice how it's trying to fill in the empty space of the trees. If you'd fully gone over, I expect the Dark material would completely assimilate the trees, maybe even turn them into something different."

Tai almost responded, but his breath caught and he pointed at the screen.

"That. What...what are those things?" Tai stared, as one, then another, four limbed creatures coalesced from the particles and moved amongst the trees. They were barely a foot high, and seemed to have claws in place of fingers. The shape of their heads were too blurred to make out clearly.

"I never saw anything while I was on the other side." But it was dark. Too dark. Maybe his eyes had played tricks. He needed to calm down. Rethink.

"No, you wouldn't have. These...shadow creatures, are native to the Dark Shore, or have been so twisted by it that they're no longer distinguishable as their original selves."

So they were there. Others. That he couldn't see. And had they come for him, been drawn to him.

"The digimon I talked to. He said that when he was in the other world, he was attacked, but he didn't know how or from where."

_But at least his last memory was happy. _Thank you. Tai had never heard so much gratitude in those two words. He didn't know if he could take them from someone he knew, someone he loved. It would be different, when and if he heard them from friend or family, he decided.

Izzy was still talking, and Tai had to actively refocus himself.

"And I think it's safe to say that whatever these things are, they can't fully interact with us, anymore than we can with them. It sounds like this digimon's wounds were more psychological than physical."

Tai didn't say anything to that. Yes or No. Then Tai felt cold.

"Wait." He cleared his throat. "Wait, could these things have also come through?"

Izzy's hands paused over his keyboard. His lips thinned, as though he'd been caught in an omission of fact. He exhaled lowly.

"I don't know. If we consider that the missing digimon could only pass through the portal when it was opened externally, and that these creatures could on tangentially interact with him, then they had a very small window. Statistically..."

"It's possible," Tai finished, not in the mood to be placated by technicalities.

"Yes," Izzy conceded after some hesitation.

"Wonderful. And what've you got in regards to the Digimon Emperor's connection?" Tai resigned himself to another unpleasant answer.

Izzy shut his laptop. "Now that. That's something I can only offer speculation on. Maybe he is just incredibly evil, and so he's drawn to the absence of 'light', as it were. Maybe he's someone manipulating the alternate world with his control spires. Or, worst case scenario, he has no idea what's happening, and he's going on ahead and tampering with these forces regardless."

This time Tai did manage to laugh. It grated even on him.

"I'll take my bets on that last choice."

"Unfortunately I have to agree with you." Izzy frowned in concentration. Or hesitation. Just a modicum of difference, the height of his brow vs the quirk of his lips. Tai rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"He's Digi-Destined, too. I mean how else could he get into the Digital World?"

"Anything is possible, Tai. You should realize that by now."

Tai scratched his cheek. "I think it makes more sense my way. Corrupted Digi-Destined. Maybe his crest is special, like Kari's. You know. Extreme. In terms of his personality right now."

"Tai, that's a big stretch. You're assuming he has a crest, one that's managed to remain partially active all this time, just enough to draw out the Dark Shore when he's nearby."

Tai sighed. He stood. His legs and ass were sore. "It's an idea. I dunno what's really going on. But I think it's safe to assume that if we want to put a stop to it, we've go to take this guy out."

Izzy's face relaxed. Tai winced.

"So who did you talk to?"

"Sora," he said firmly. "She told me a few days ago, said you were planning on having some big meeting. And just let me say, keeping that from me and the others is way more disappointing than the Dark Dimension omission."

"Hey, it wasn't an omission, I just didn't think things would get that crazy."

"Not the issue right now, anyway." Izzy stood as well. He was still almost a foot shorter than Tai, but his stature did nothing to diminish his easy confidence.

"I agree with you, Tai. It's not a pleasant thing to think about, but if we can't reason with him, and we can't contain him, we have to get rid of him permanently."

Tai regarded Izzy. "Just like that?"

"If it comes down to the last option, we'll make a plan. We've never been short on those."

Tai laughed quietly.

"I think it was more like, something happened, and we had to scramble together just to haul our asses out of the fire."

Izzy nodded. "True, but we worked well like that. And now, we have the benefit of experience, time and access to our own territory. We should take advantage of all of that."

"We have been. Although...you're going to be seeing Davis and the others on Monday, right?"

"Yeah. I usually talk to Yolei during computer club."

"Good. We should arrange weekly meetings. Share info. It's hard for me to have any kind of conversation with Davis during practice that doesn't revolve around the game, and Kari's been spending a lot of time with the new group anyway."

"Sound idea. I'll try to work something out. In the meantime, we should also share this with Matt, Sora and the others."

"The Dark Shore, or the last resort?" Tai didn't know why we was speaking in code now. Brevity. That was good enough. Tai scoffed.

_Listen to you now. You're making excuses for you own idea. _

"Both." Izzy's brow pinched at Tai's expression.

Tai cracked his neck. "Fine." He started toward Izzy's bedroom door. "I'm gonna get going. Probably start with Matt, go from there."

"I figured."

Tai frowned but didn't comment.

_Not as subtle as you think you are. Get over it. _

"Hey Izzy. Don't say anything to Davis and his gang about that digimon."

Izzy assumed his stoic expression again. Then nodded. "All right."

One more goodbye and Tai was out the door. He took the stairs. They were fairly steep, and he couldn't move as fast as he wanted. When Tai hit the pavement, he stopped, stared at the sky for a few breaths, and broke into a run. He'd worn shorts and a soccer polo. Excellent choice. The air was wonderfully cool, and each breath sent a shiver of pleasure through his body. After a few blocks, Tai pulled his shirt off at an intersection.

Tai grinned as he felt the air gust against his chest and back; his skin pricked, and would have spread his arms out, only for a moment, if the side walk wasn't crowded. No one gave him a second glance. It was as though he were moving parallel to them all, easily and fluidly. How could anyone be sedentary? Let their bodies slow and slacken willingly?

Tai jumped cleanly over the corner of short brick wall, instead of rounding it.

Davis and Sora were the only others who'd go running with him, and Davis liked to talk. Always wanting attention. He didn't get enough at home. Must be that. Couldn't confide in a sibling like Matt.

So. So he went to Tai, his teammates. But him most of all. He needed guidance, a bit of reassurance, and he'd be fine.

Sora.

Tai upped his breathing, inhaled for three steps, exhaled fully for two.

It had been moths since she and Tai had ran together. Not enough time. Enough motivation. No. Motivation as too fleeting. Focus. Discipline. That's what you needed. What Tai had, what he knew Sora had in droves. But she still hadn't gone with him. Was it...him? Someone else? Matt?

Tai's feet hit the pavement harder.

Couldn't have been. He hadn't lost track of either of them for long. They were together, the three of them. But that didn't mean anything. Could have been a third wheel without realizing it. But the kiss. Matt would have said something, wasn't the kind of guy to lead on like that. He could always ask, would ask, if it came down to it.

If. They were all reaching low now, scraping the bottom. They needed some relief. It was easy. A smile. A day spent together at the beach. A kind word or phrase.

Thank you.

Sweat moved down Tai's brow and chest, the droplets ripening and rolling. He'd need a shower all over again after this. His shirt would need a wash.

Thank you.

He imagined Matt, his smile, reserved for a few people, while his lips moved.

Thank you.

Nothing grounded the words. No situation, pleasant or awful, spectacular or boring. Just the phrase, their sound, the way they molded Matt's mouth. Kindness. That was all.

Tai stopped, beneath the arch of a bridge. He could see his apartment complex, just a block away. The shadow cast by stone and metal slanted out onto the concrete before him. Tai's heart hammered, his body hummed with the thrill and passion of exertion and use.

God, was this. Was this what it would be like with Matt, after? Would they exchanged a smile and those words?

Tai shivered, and not from the wind. He suddenly became aware of the growing ache and warmth in his abdomen, and the confluent rush of adrenaline, heat and satisfaction made him dizzy, and he leaned against the cold concrete of the bridge.

Tai's fingers brushed the front of his pants, briefly, and in a breath his face was burning just at the thought. In a public park. He wasn't one of those trench coat wearing perverts on the train. But his thoughts...they weren't. No. It was just Matt's voice, his face, his mouth those words. They had so much power. Power to.

And Tai's eyes snapped open, and he felt cold all over again.

Was that what had awoken the darkness in the Digital World? Created a rift, flanked by two nodes so extreme in character they could never meet, unless in catastrophe?

_Hell, you've seen it yourself. Stranger things. But this. The Digimon Emperor couldn't be. Couldn't have _that _crest._

_Kindness. _

But if he did, then he had the same strength, the same power to overwhelm and awe. And there was no limit to what he'd do with that strength.

Tai's hands curled into fists. He straightened, took a breath, and held his head so he could see the apartment complex clearly, then ran forward. He was sure he could go on forever.


	4. Chapter 4

Two things. One, I realized that the episode where Kari disappears to the Dark Shore happens after everyone learns that Ken is the Digimon Emperor. My fault. But, since those two episodes aren't mutually dependent with respect to canon, I'm going to leave chapters 3 and 4 as they are. Second, this chapter is where things start to diverge from canon a bit, so I suppose it's fitting that I discovered the inconsistency while writing chapter 4. Hope everyone enjoys.

* * *

The leaves of the beech trees rustled in the chilly breeze. Beads of water pelted the ground and moss at the base of the trunks. Overhead, grey clouds rolled across the sky without end, and the slender tree branches spread out in a great swath, dotting the grey slate with green, a colossus reaching for the high heavens, repeated hundreds, thousands of times across the vast stretch of forest. From the ground, the sight was dizzying.

Sora didn't look. Not up. She cast her eyes to the ground. Down, around. Moss covered rocks and wet leaves and soil met the soles of her shoes. A stream flowed parallel to Sora, the sound of the water snuffed out by her heart thudding in her ears. Down. Left. Right. Nothing. A bird that took flight before she'd spotted it on the ground. Millipedes crawled beneath a fallen branch. Only a trio of crows stood their ground before her approach. They picked at the ground beneath a slanted tree, moving without flapping their wings. As Sora passed near, they paused, and cocked their heads, their thick heavy beaks dull and glossy.

Forward. Left. The trees had no pattern in their placement, and Sora didn't know if she was going the right way, if she remembered when her mother had shown her. Behind her, she could still hear the crows cawing, beaks and talons clicking.

Right and. White. Wreathed in leaves and slanting against bark. Sunken into deep green moss. Five pale, upright stalks, capped with bone white domes.

Sora's heart deafened her. She pressed her hands against her legs. Her fingertips trembled. Each step she took vanished in the din. The crows sounded in the background, screeching. Sora didn't stop. She kept on until she'd nearly trampled the mushrooms, and then she could only sink toward the ground, her body wrung out. Sora knelt among the moss and soil, staring straight ahead, through the spaces between the trees. She would have kept on, mesmerized by nothing, but her body betrayed her, made her feel the extra weight of the backpack hanging from her shoulders.

Slowly, she reached into her right pocket, and pulled out a pair of grey gloves, and clothed her hands. Next she grabbed the shoulder strap of the bag and pulled it down next to her. She unzipped it with one motion, and took out a zip lock bag, unsealed it, took out three smaller bags, and put them in front of her.

Without pause, and without a tremor, Sora began uprooting the mushrooms, one by one. Each went into a bag, and Sora didn't look at the filled containers as she set them in a pile. When the last mushroom was torn from the ground, Sora pulled off her right glove, dropped it into the large bag, and repeated the motion for the left. The large bag crinkled as she sealed the gloves inside, and placed it in her backpack. The smaller bags went in with barely a sound, and the final zip to seal the backpack was jarring, almost deafening.

Sora wiped sweat from her forehead. She found her strength again, gathered it and propelled herself up and forward, along the trail toward the forest's edge, with the chatter of the three crows following her.

* * *

"Ey, Matt. You gonna play, or you gonna stand there being a space cadet?" Shouji waved a hand in front of his band mate's face.

Matt didn't flinch or blink. He sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not feeling it."

Shouji leaned in. "You're not. You know, we're supposed to be giving a concert in less than a week, and you're not 'feeling it?'"

"Yeah," Matt said flatly. "You heard me right." His finger throbbed under the bandage, and he strained to keep from choking off blood to the side of his finger with his thumb nail.

Shouji's incredulity seemed to override his ability to speak, long enough for Kezno to slide his guitar off his shoulder and say,

"I'm out."

Shouji rounded on his band mate.

"What, you too? Seriously?" He turned back to Matt, somehow expecting spontaneous support. When he received none, he inhaled deeply, and turned so he faced their hypothetical audience.

"All right. Well, we've got our vocalist who needs time to find his 'feelings' before he can sing. And then our lead guitarist apparently just wants to drop his shit and quit, so that's great. Yeah. All in all, I'd say The Teenage Wolves are definitely on the way to a major breakthrough."

Kenzo snapped the locks on his guitar case shut. He regarded Matt; he looked worn out, his eyes bloodshot, his hair listless.

"You should get some rest, Matt. Clear your head. That's what I'm gonna be doing for the next day." He walked off the stage without another word.

Matt released tension he didn't know he had. His shoulders fell, and his pulse slowed. He felt sweat on his neck and under his arms for the first time since he'd arrived, almost three hours ago. Eat. Shower. Sleep. That sounded like heaven right now. Just like it had three weeks ago. Just like it had for the last two months.

Just like it will two months from now.

And his finger burned.

"Matt. Jeez. You're really up your own ass today." Shouji eyed the back of the stage. "And what about you, Toru? You okay will all this? You gonna go off and take a nap for the next day or two?"

Their drummer didn't say anything. He tucked his drumsticks into his pocket, walked to the edge of the stage, hopped off, and followed Kenzo out the door.

Shouji laughed, tersely and without humor.

"Well, that's just fantastic. Really glad I spent the last two and a half years working my ass off with this band, so it can all go to shit right before our biggest show to date. Real nice..."

Matt winced as he started to peel the bandage back. Its underside was stained brown and yellow. He stopped when he saw the beginnings of the crusted line of the wound.

"Shouji? Shut the hell up." With that, Matt packed his guitar, slung it over his shoulder, and walked off the stage, leaving his band mate to rant to a captive audience.

The sun had set over an hour ago; it was a clear, cloudless night, and the stars were washed out of the sky by the bright city lights. It was too still, too calm outside for Matt's liking. He would have preferred a cool breeze. A whipping gust. Something to take his mind off at least the last three hours. Too much work. Too little sleep.

God, I'm like my dad already.

Matt cleared the perimeter of the rental hall and stifled a yawn. He thought of walking through the park, thought of it almost every night, but he never took the detour. Just out the door, straight for two blocks, and to the bus stop. Simple and clean cut. Safe and easy. Matt yawned. Why bother hiding it?

His feet met the sidewalk. Two blocks.

Really, he wished TK would spend more time around the apartment. School, home, Digital World. At least when they were stranded three years ago, they could count on being together, him, TK and the rest of the group. Tai.

Matt almost laughed, tiredly. Of course. That was simple too, he guessed. If he wanted it to be. All he had to do was...nothing. Say nothing. Initiate nothing. Matt frowned.

No, that wouldn't work. Tai didn't wait for anyone or anything. He'd just move forward. Maybe another. Another kiss.

Matt's mouth went dry. His hands tingled.

They had said wait, though. And Tai had agreed. Or maybe it had just been Matt, saying wait, wait, wait. And Tai had just. Just. Matt didn't even know. He'd said yes. Smiled. Touched his shoulder. Or had it been more, a two syllable assurance? OK.

Matt shivered. That must have been Tai's word. Not a curt 'yes.' Yeah, OK. Sure. Tai's voice fit those words much better; his deeper, warmer voice.

"Damn it." Matt came up behind the booth of the bus stop, just as his guitar case started to slip from the shoulder. He leaned the case against the plexiglass wall, and leaned in and stared though the panel . Dirt was scratched deeply into the plastic, wide marks, razor thin, deep and shallow. Another few years and the sheet would be opaque. But before then the city would probably replace the booth. Replace the sign. Replace the bus' driver.

"Oh screw that," Matt muttered. He grabbed the case and walked around, into the booth and sat down. No one else was around, except for a few people moving along the opposite walk. Six months ago, practice ended at the height of rush hour, and Matt had to fight for a seat on the bus. Privacy was the better option, Matt supposed. Not being crowded, was the better option. His finger burned.

"I still have this, though." He peeled the bandage back slowly, painfully so, literally and otherwise. He could feel his skin stretch and break. Then the smell of antiseptic, stale blood and barely healing flesh. It had a smell, and Matt hated it more than any other, even the blood. He could deal with that. But. Matt knew his limits.

Minutes later, with no bus in sight, and Matt started to doze off. His grip on the guitar case slackened, and he would have lost it, but the sound of approaching footsteps roused him. He craned his neck to the right, but a bus schedule poster blocked his line of sight, and Matt was ready to dismiss the person, from thought and action.

Sora cleared the corner, breathless. She smiled when her eyes met Matt's.

"I'm glad I caught you here."

"Uh," Matt articulated. "Hi." He sat straight, tried to give the appearance that he hadn't been seconds from falling asleep on a public bench.

Sora sat next to him, took a deep breath and rested her hands on her lap. She wore jeans, a white blouse and a black jacket the same shade as Matt's button down short sleeve blouse. She smelled like lilac.

"I went to the practice hall, but Shouji said you and everyone else left early."

Matt snorted. "He said that?"

"Not exactly, but I don't really feel like repeating everything."

"Yeah, that'd be Shouji." Matt couldn't keep the fatigue out of his voice. Let the jackass say whatever he wanted. He could take his microphone and shove it up his ass. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Sora didn't hide the concern in her tone. "I wanted to see how you were doing. You usually leave right after class, and you weren't at the last meeting."

"Yeah, I've just been. Busy."

Even TK only sees me about twice a week.

Sora lowered her hands, placed them on either side of her, gripped the edge of the bench. She gave him a sideways look, like they'd been talking for hours already, and she was delivering a poignant observation to cap off their discussion.

"Things are getting worse. In the Digital World. It's not even just the control spires anymore. Digimon are disappearing. And the other kids aren't making fast enough progress to slow it all down."

"I already knew that," Matt said quickly. "Sorry, Sora, but I'm not really in the mood to hear this right now. I know where this is going, too. And I just really don't wanna think about it right now." Matt rubbed his temple, and that helped unknot some of the tension.

Sora turned her head back, so she looked straight ahead at the opposite street. "I think we should, though. We have to, if that's where we're going to eventually go."

Matt slumped. "We're not going anywhere."

Except home. I'd like to go home. I'll be home after dad. He'll have dinner waiting for me. Who would have seen that coming?

Having someone at home, waiting for him, expecting him, was good regardless.

Sora stayed quiet. Matt looked over. She'd joined her hands in her lap, and lowered her head slightly. Matt was reminded of the cards his grandparents sent out in December, of children and men and women all bowed in quiet supplication, a star illuminating them from above. Sora had no light except for the bright white, blue rimmed LED shining from the ceiling of the booth. Matt still thought she looked. He frowned. No, not angelic. Burdened. Resigned to that burden. That would fit with the tone of the cards too.

"Have things been tense with the band for a while now?"

Matt didn't hide his surprise at the shift in topic. "No. We have our ups and downs. It's no big deal. Shouji always goes into panic mode right before a concert. He thinks every one of them will either make or break us, and always tells us exactly how much time we've all spent working with the band." Matt shrugged. He grit his teeth and kept pressing his thumb nail against the side of his injured finger.

He'd have to douse it with rubbing alcohol again when he got home. It'd sting. Hell, it'd burn, but that's how it had to be.

Matt's breath caught when he felt warm fingers around his wrist. He slowly turned and stared at Sora, but she was looking at his finger, holding it closer to her face. She tightened her lips, then relaxed them, and her fingers felt tense against Matt's own. Her expression was different from when she'd helped Tai after the fight. Back then she'd been animated, her usual conversational self, but now, it was like she was seeing him for the first time, and didn't know how to react, and Matt was in no way prepared to compensate.

"You should put some antibiotic cream on your cut. It'll help with the pain. And, I read that using rubbing alcohol actually causes more harm than good for injuries like this."

The bus was approaching, slowing down, it's headlights glaring at them from the street. Matt glanced back at his guitar case, then to Sora. She smiled, and Matt said,

"All right. Uh. Thanks." He gently drew his hand back, and grabbed the case. The bus was about to stop, and Sora hadn't stood with him.

"Are you getting on the same bus, or."

What? You going to sit here all night and wait for someone else? It sounded stupid to ask, even to himself.

Sora blinked, as though snapped from a trance. She shifted and stood up.

"No. I just walked from home. It's close enough I don't have to worry about getting home too late."

Matt should have realized that. He knew where everyone lived. As he stopped in front of the entrance to the booth, he turned.

"You sure you don't want me to. Go with you?" Again, he sounded idiotic, more so since he'd voiced his thoughts.

Sora didn't take offense, neither at his lack of articulation, or his apparent ignorance of where she lived.

"No, I've walked farther, and it's a safe area. Won't be a problem." She pulled Matt into a hug, just as the bus stopped. He tried his best to reciprocate, but with the case and the added burden of Sora's spontaneity, he only managed to lay his right hand on her back, and held it there just long enough for the driver to ask,

"Hey, you getting on the bus?"

Sora pulled away first, and she had that same expression when she'd examined his finger, something Matt couldn't place and wouldn't know how to describe.

"I'll make sure to come to the next meeting," he said suddenly.

Sora smiled. "I'll see you there then." She waved as the door closed, and Matt returned the gesture. His hand felt stiff and mechanical.

Matt found a place to sit in the back; there only four other people, an older couple, and two loners like Matt, though they had to be in their thirties, if he'd had to guess. The lights on the bus ceiling were the same as those in the booth, burning white with a tinge of eldrich blue. They reminded Matt of the color of Gabumon's attacks, especially when he was in his mega form.

He sighed. Everything would be so much easier if he and Tai could get their digimon to evolve to their final forms. A good beat down, and the Digimon Emperor would never set foot in the Digital World again.

He cracked his knuckles. Nothing was simple. Not that. Not Tai. Not even, Sora, anymore.

What the hell was that all about? First about the meetings, then about the band, then.

At least she'd given him good advice about the cut. There would be some left over ointment in the medicine cabinet, from when Matt went through his punching anyone who gave him a wrong look phase. Back then, his father really had just been too exhausted and too wrung out from the divorce to do much else besides give him a derivative lecture and make sure that whatever injuries Matt had were taken care of.

I really was a crappy son, before the Digital World. But I didn't have a job to distract myself like dad, so. We can both call a truce on that front.

The bus rocked to one side, and Matt had to steady himself in his seat by gripping the railing. He frowned and looked out the window, but saw only the usual cityscape. He settled back in, and the bus rocked toward the right, more violently this time.

Matt stood and went to the opposite window. Nothing. The other people on the bus were starting to look around nervously, muttering half finished sentences and turning their heads toward the disturbance. Matt gripped the digivice in his pocket. It might not be an immediate solution, but its feel and weight provided him with an assurance that nothing else could.

Something darkened Matt's peripheral vision. He jerked his head up, to the right corner of the window. Nothing. His skin prickled. He walked toward the driver, stepped over the blue lines designating the passenger restricted area.

"Get everyone off the bus."

The driver started and stared.

"What are you talking about? Get back from here."

The bus rocked again. The driver swore and glanced around.

Matt tried to control his tone.

"I said. Get everyone off the bus. It's not safe."

"It's an old bus, kid. Now get back."

Matt scoffed. "Yeah. OK. My dad had an old car. The right front axle made a grinding noise if he took a corner too fast, it didn't rock-"

Matt slammed into the metal paneling behind the driver's seat. His feet left the ground, and all his weight settled onto his left side. The bus groaned as the world reoriented itself, and Matt instinctively reached out and grabbed the railing above his head and pulled himself up until his chest was over the bar. He heard a screech, then his body jolted upward. Matt's arms ached as he stiffened them to steady his grip and position. A final crack, a shout, and the world was still.

Matt's head throbbed. Or maybe that was his heartbeat. It didn't matter. He lowered himself until his back touched the metal panel. He rested his head against the panel and breathed in deeply. The driver was groaning and trying to right himself, but he was having trouble with his seat belt.

Matt pushed himself up, hand still on the railing to balance himself. He knelt down slowly and clicked the latch that held the driver's belt buckle in place.

"You all right?" His voice was devoid of the contrition he felt.

"Yeah." The driver winced and pulled himself up. He had a cut on his left cheek. Nothing deep, but the color and freshness of the blood spurred Matt on. He turned to face the rest of the bus.

"We need to get off this bus now." His voice was loud, but he lacked the authority he thought a commander needed, didn't sound like Tai when he'd given them a speech before fighting a previously implacable enemy. He'd work with what he had. As he stepped, awkwardly toward the hatches, he shivered, and looked up. A shape. Wings. Barely visible against the night sky.

A Digimon? Another portal? Is this...

They didn't have time. He didn't have time. His Digivice hummed in his pocket. Matt was briefly torn, but he needed to get out, before whatever was out there decided tipping the bus over didn't qualify as a victory.

Following the panel instructions was easy enough. Twist knob and push. He twisted, but couldn't push out the panel with his hands.

"Crap."

The bus lurched again as though kicked from its underside. The windows against the street cracked, and bright orange sparks bloomed along the asphalt.

Matt fell back and gripped the sides of the seats that flanked him. He kicked against the panel with everything he had until it finally gave way. Matt pushed himself forward, toward the opening; he looked around and saw that the other passengers were moving in on his location. Some of them were moving slowly, stumbling forward, dazed and silent, but they were moving on their own. One more motion and his legs hit the asphalt.

A gust of wind nearly knocked Matt down as he stood; he had just enough time to crane his head up and follow the dark shape as it collided with the opposite office building.

Matt hit the ground and covered his head with his arms. Dozens of pops, an explosion of glass, and then the air went dead.

Matt uncovered his head and looked up. A few of the building's windows were broken, and the facade had cracks in it, spider webbing along the stonework. Slowly Matt got to his feet, and only then did he register the blaring of car alarms and the growing whine of police sirens. Matt's hand was wet and numb around the Digivice, and he could feel the energy hum from its core. He turned and saw the other passengers emerging from the overturned bus.

The sky was still clear when Matt stepped away from the bus, away from oncoming traffic and onto the sidewalk. He needed. He needed to get home. If there were digimon attacking the real world, his father would need protection. TK could cover their mother, and Tai and Sora and the others could coordinate things with the younger kids until they knew more about the situation.

And maybe Sora was still around. Maybe she needed help.

Another gust, and Matt was knocked into an adjacent window pane. He swore and fought to maintain his balance. The light from his digivice shone through the cloth of his pant leg. Matt dug the device out of his pocket, gripped it tightly and thrust it into the air; his palm warmed, almost to an uncomfortable level.

The currents of air shifted. Matt swayed right, then left, until a cyclone whirled around him. The wind stung his eyes and impeded his breath, but he held his ground, and his palm grew hotter, and he could hear the roar above even the wind, the pain the confusion, the anger. Just a few more seconds. It wouldn't be long.

The ground trembled and upended Matt's balance. The digivice flew from his hand and landed on the curb. Matt struggled into an upright position, but before he could stand, the cement blocks shook again, and he was sent back to the ground.

"Oh, cr-"

Before Matt could finish, another tremor, and this time Matt could make out a paw, massive and with foot long claws. It flickered in and out of sight like a bad picture on a TV screen. The blurred paw rose, swiping toward Matt, and he barely had the time or breath to roll out of the way. His hands and legs were damp with sweat. His finger felt like he'd dipped it in acid.

It didn't matter. He wouldn't fall to something like this. Not when TK and his father, when Tai and Sora, and the others were still out there, when they depended on him in some way, any way. He forced himself up, against the ache of his hands and knees and legs, against the pounding of his head and the rising tightness in his chest.

And then he could feel it. His digivice glowed, brighter than before, and the air currents went dead, the roar became deafening. Matt placed his palm against the window and steadied himself, well enough to stand without aid, and he could only stare, mouth agape.

A monstrosity. It would have been a sight to behold, if it hadn't just tried to crush him beneath its weight. Its wingspan would have darkened half a block, if it took to flight, its head must have been at least the size of a car, long and narrow, its muzzle filled with rows of jagged teeth. And its eyes. Bright orange, smoldering like fire. Its form still flickered as it shifted it massive body under the strain of the searing light.

Matt walked toward his digivice, and with each step he took, the brighter the light became, until Matt's vision was almost washed out, but he didn't need to see to find his target, and when he grasped the device, it felt like he was being pulled up, down, to the side. He felt light, and he knew then that he was channeling his own energy to make the light stronger, knew that he wouldn't die, but that afterward, he wouldn't have the strength to fight anymore, or even stand. Matt narrowed his eyes and pushed the digivice higher. It would be enough.

The roaring drifted up, away, as though he were hearing it from down a long tunnel. His own vision started to darken, the light became less clear and bright. Fine. It was fine. Later he could regroup with the others, he could help TK, help protect him and the others from the Digimon Emperor, even from the Dark Shore, if that's what this meant, if Tai and Izzy were right. His hearing started soften, and Matt swayed on his feet. Fine. That was fine. He kept his arm steady. His chest started to relax. It wouldn't be long, and he would.

Matt gasped. His senses sharpened, and it was overwhelming, a plunge into fire and ice. The light returned in full force, and Matt had to close his eyes, and even then he saw nothing but red and orange behind his lids. The roar still receded beyond his hearing, and then he couldn't hear anything, and in those moments, he thought he might have gone over, given too much, but the light vanished, shrank to a point in the screen of his digivice. The creature was gone, and in the wake of its absence, Matt's knees buckled, and he sank toward the concrete, until someone caught him under the arms, held his weight up.

The streetlights danced above him as iridescent blurs. The sky wheeled briefly and stopped, and Matt nearly gagged, but he tipped his head back, and the world stilled long enough for Matt to recover. Whoever had caught him sounded in worse shape than he was; Matt heard ragged breathing, and the arms that supported him felt like they would buckle.

"I heard. All the sirens. Explosions. I didn't." Sora's voice wavered, and she moved toward the opposite wall, her feet scrapping across the cracked cement. Matt tried to move his feet in sync with hers, but he ended up causing more drag than anything else. When Sora reached the wall, she released Matt's arms, one at a time, and leaned him against the cool stone. By this time, he had his bearings, and let himself go into a controlled slide. Hitting the cement felt like sitting in a cushioned chair to him, and Matt would have been content to remain there undisturbed for the next few hours.

"I don't know what happened," his voice was low. "I don't even know if that thing was a digimon."

Sora had apparently sat next to him at some point. She really was worse for wear than when he'd seen her at the bus stop, almost as he'd seen her after a soccer game.

"Matt, we know."

Matt rolled his head across the wall. It was cold, felt good.

"What do we know? Besides the fact that we don't know what's going on right here and now?"

Sora leaned in and grabbed the sleeve of Matt's jacket.

"The Digimon Emperor. We know who he is. Tai called me, after you left. And we know."

Sora kept talking. She probably said the Emperor's real name, might have even said that he went to school with them. It didn't matter. They would. Tai would. No. They would. After tonight. After this attack. He, Tia, Sora. Now Izzy.

Matt lowered his head and stared at the pavement. He felt the ice crawl along his spine again, and his heart hammered in his chest and head. He took one, slow deep breath after the other. There was still TK, who could have been here tonight, could have been one of the people crawling onto the road with cars rushing toward him. Or his father, who could have.

Matt spoke abruptly,

"What's our next move? What did Tai say?"

Sora sounded confused. "Matt, you-"

"What did he say?" Matt raised his head and voice. "Come on, Sora, he's not gonna keep quiet on this, and you don't have to wait for me to come down. Or. Whatever. Just. Spill it out."

"Offense," Sora said, softly and without sentiment. "We're going to take the fight to him, here or in the Digital World."

"War," Matt supplied. The word came easily. He lowered his head. "OK." That came easily too, and sent a fresh shiver of fear through his body. Now he faced the sky, and he could only repeat,

"OK."


	5. Chapter 5

And here we have more deviation from canon, and Davis' very own chapter. I'm a bit concerned about how I've written him, that I might have made him too naive, or rather, too dependent on others' acceptance. I'd really appreciate feedback on my characterization of Davis. Otherwise, I'd say this is the chapter which finishes laying the framework for the rest of the story. And yes, this is still a fic with Taito as a paring, and the importance of their relationship will start to move forward in the next chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

"Shit," Davis muttered.

The horned creature growled and crouched low. It was a towering mass of muscle, its hide a brilliant emerald green all along its back, and a shinning ivory white from lower snout to the underside of its tail.

"All right, X-Veemon, we're gonna..."

A roar cut off Davis' words. With titanic strength, the beast launched itself off the ground and catapulted through the air. At its zenith, bright orange light coalesced between the beast's jaws, and in the next moment, it snapped its head back, then forward, and flung the glowing orb toward the ground; it blazed through the air like a comet, and impacted with no less force.

"Up! Come on, go up!" Davis urged loudly. His hands were damp with sweat, his fingers numb, and his heart thudded just like during a soccer drill. He couldn't see through the cloud of dust and debris, could barely hear the sound of his enemy making contact with the ground. At least there was no more roaring or growling. That had to be a good sign, for what it was worth, but he still couldn't see his partner.

"OK. OK."

_He should have gone up. I gave him enough time, didn't I? Or maybe I should have just made him move away instead of up. But-_

The clouds of dust parted in the wake of over a ton of charging muscle and bone, and in a flash of time that mimicked the descent of the energy orb, Davis saw his crumpled partner being trampled beneath a barrage of claws and rock and churned earth. Blue and white limbs twisted and tore, but there was no blood, not even the dark tinge of a bruise, before they vanished in a mist of digital particles.

"Damn it!" Davis flung his controller to the ground and glared at the TV screen, as though holding it personally responsible for his failure. He wiped his hands on his pants, and leaned back against the couch.

"Didn't you say you were good at this game?" Kari teased lightly from her position on the left end of the couch.

Davis felt his face flush.

"I am! I just couldn't concentrate with you two watching me." Davis smiled uncertainly at Kari, and his brow slowly furrowed as he turned his head to the other end of the couch.

"Well, it was mostly because of him, really." He indicated TK with jab of his thumb. "Why'd you even come? You haven't said anything for like the last hour?"

TK offered a grunt in response. He sat with his right arm slung over the back of the couch, his legs flush against the front rail. He ignored the TV in favor of the panel of windows to the left of the set. It was a clear, warm day, and the sun had barely cleared its peak in the sky. Perfect soccer weather, as far as Davis was concerned. Or it would have been, if Tai and basically every other player Davis knew wasn't busy, or, in Tai's case, acting like he'd been diagnosed with some kind of bone disease.

Kari frowned, and Davis followed suit a moment later.

_Why is she so concerned, just because he's acting all weird? What, does he know what's going on with Tai?_

"He's right."

Davis' frown deepened. As though that was such a shock.

"You've been quiet since before we left your house. What's going on?" And she scooted closer to him. Not close enough so that their legs or hips touched, but even so.

Davis waved his hand. "Ah he's just upset about what happened with Matt a few nights ago. It sucks, but we'll get whoever was behind it." He angled his head in Kari's direction, smiling, but she wasn't paying attention.

"It is Matt," TK said suddenly, surprising them both.

Davis felt a pleasant warmth spread through his chest. Yeah. He could be right.

"But he's been weird way before the attack on the bus."

And there went part of his victory. TK continued without any hitches.

"He was the most normal he's been in weeks right after he came back that night. He and Sora were pretty shaken up, but." TK shrugged without energy. "He was just tired, but still focused, and we actually talked, for about an hour, without him getting distracted. Then Sora. Well, she left a few minutes after she arrived, and yeah, I could understand that. But then." TK lowered his arms so his hands rested against his thighs. He tilted his head slightly, as though observing something curious for the first time.

"Sora came back with Tai. And. Then it was right back to I don't even know. Sora and Matt just looked at each other, for like, half a minute, until it got really awkward."

"What about Tai?" Davis asked impatiently. "Was he acting weird too?"

TK appeared frustrated. "No. Not right out, not like, to my face. He was serious, but not like Matt and Sora. It was just. Off."

"What does that even mean?" Davis stood and loudly voiced his confusion before anyone else could speak.

"It means," TK said with unconstrained irritation, "that the whole time Tai was talking, he kept shifting in his chair, crossing and uncrossing his legs. Maybe he was just thinking, maybe he was shaken, but it's Tai. He'd go head to head with a dark digimon and wouldn't take one look back."

_Damn right._

TK sighed and sat back, shook his head and stared at the ceiling.

"Maybe it's something other than a digimon." Kari straightened herself. She took after her brother in one succinct motion, confident when everyone else floundered.

"What, you mean it's something not connected to the digital world?" TK straightened his head and regarded Kari.

"Maybe. Or maybe something that isn't directly connected to the digimon. There could be something going on between Tai and Matt. Or Tai and Sora. Or all of them. And, well. That's really none of our business." She finished with the same certainty that she'd started with, and finally favored Davis and TK with equal attention.

"I guess," Davis muttered, still mulling the words over. If there was something...personal going on between Tai and Matt and Sora, he couldn't really butt into that. Still, there was nothing stopping him from asking Tai if there was anything wrong, or expressing his irritation when he was told that, no, Tai couldn't practice with him, he had to work on some school project with Matt about blowing up countries and assassinating evil leaders.

"You think they're both fighting over Sora or something?" TK sounded skeptical, even averse, to such a situation.

"Huh," Davis said, nodding. "I didn't even think of that." He grinned. "But it makes total sense. Him blowing me and everyone else off. Acting like everything's OK when he's really just all lovey over Sora."

"It's not that," TK said sharply. "Even if Tai is into Sora or whatever, and Matt is too. There's more to it. Matt came over to our mom's apartment a few weeks ago to make us dinner. And he cut himself, and barely did anything about it, just stuck a band aid on. That cut was infected when I saw it the night of the attack. I had to make Matt go to the doctor. I mean." TK waved his hands in agitation. Kari placed an assuring hand on his shoulder.

_Oh come on it's not that serious._

"And then he called Tai over, because he said he needed to talk to him about some project." TK rolled his eyes. "And Tai stayed over just long enough to clean us out of the leftovers from Matt's dinner, and he and Matt talkd about something outside for about ten minutes, Matt came in, and he started acting even weirder."

Davis sighed. TK wasn't going anywhere with this. He was just upset, fine. Upset that Matt had a life he didn't want everyone else in their group to know about. Davis got that, he really did.

"Man, you're not gonna figure it out by talking to us about Matt. He'll tell you if he wants to. Besides, we've got bigger things to worry about."

TK's jaw tightened, and he sat forward abruptly.

"Bigger things? Bigger and more important than our friends and family? The whole reason we do this, that we fight in the digital world everyday, is to protect them, and the digimon we care about. And there are bigger things?" TK finished quietly, his anger driven deeply into the words.

Davis moved in closer, posture stiff. "I never said anything was more important than our family, friends and the digimon. But, uh, how about the fact that we figured out that the Digimon Emperor is a kid just like us, that we know who he is, where he lives. We can fight him right here, on our own territory, without any dark rings or controlled digimon or secret bases or whatever. That's something we can do something about right now.

"Yeah?" TK asked darkly. "What are you gonna do? Walk over to Ken's house, ring the bell and punch him in the face when he answers? And then when the police show up, say, 'no, honest, he's really an evil mastermind trying to take over this parallel universe and me and my friends are the only ones who can stop him? Great plan, Davis, as always."

"Enough!" Kari yelled before Davis could even open his mouth. He stared at her with open shock, not used to such an abrupt break in her personality. TK's expression came close to mirroring Davis', only he held a pinch in his brow.

"Davis, you're right. If Matt has a serious problem, he'll tell us. He'll at least tell Tai. And we can't force anything out of him. That's never worked before." She faced Davis. "And you know TK's right about what he said. I talked with Izzy yesterday, and he says there might be a way to prevent Ken from going to the Digital World by interfering with Ken's Digivice."

"How do we even know he has one?" Davis objected.

Kari sighed. "Because as far as we know, that's the only way that you can enter the Digital World."

"And we have to go with what we know," TK added unnecessarily.

"Listen, TJ," Davis fumed, "I'm not a moron, and I don't need you pointing out everything to me like I am."

"I'm not trying to make you out to be stupid, Davis." TK ground out the name, but kept his composure. "I'm just. I'm trying to keep myself focused. And you can cut the crap with my name. I know you know it, and it's not even an insult." TK paused. "That makes you look like a moron."

Davis inhaled deeply, but on the cusp of releasing the breath, couldn't find a retort. Butchering TK's name really had lost its sting. Now that Davis considered things, he'd never managed to get a rise out of TK regardless.

"All right. Fine. So what are we going to do? We keep blowing up control spires, and it's not stopping Ken. And our digimon are getting stronger too, so we have to do something." Davis lowered his head into his hands and muttered, "I mean we know who he is! That's gotta count for something. We're just sitting on this, like, secret weapon, and we're not doing anything about it."

Kari leaned back. "Knowing who he is doesn't do us any good if he still has access to the Digital World. I say we wait until Izzy has a better idea of how we might be able to attack his Digivice, and go from there."

"Wait," Davis groused. "And while we're doing that, he's laughing at us."

"He won't be laughing for long."

TK's words and tone broke Davis' despondent mood abruptly; he and Kari both eyed him, waiting for an elaboration that never came, and after an extended period of scrutiny, TK, sighed, his shoulders slumped, and he returned to normal.

Davis broke the silence first. "That doesn't even mean anything. I wanna know what's we're going to do, besides waiting. You know Ken could already be planning to attack us in the real world." He paused and looked between his friends, but they didn't offer any kind of answer. Kari only said,

"I asked Tai about that, since Ken saw us at the game, but he didn't seem worried. He said that we'd work thought it, just like we did before in the Digital World."

Davis felt a ripple of relief spread through him. Even if he was acting a bit odd, Tai still had his head in the game, at least where important things were concerned.

"Well I trust Tai." Davis really didn't need to add anything else. Either they did or they didn't. Simple as that.

TK sounded tired. "Tai's not the one who's going to have to go into the Digital World and fight this guy. And I'm not saying I don't trust, him, Davis. I'm just saying we need to learn to stand on our own. Or do you wanna run to Tai every time something goes wrong?"

"That's not what he means TK," Kari said sharply, again snaring the focus of attention. "Tai worked hard to keep us together in the Digital World, and Matt always put you first, even if he was in danger. So stop acting like they both did something wrong, and start focusing on stopping Ken."

TK looked stricken. "Kari. No." He averted his gaze. "I'm sorry." And he left it at that. Davis couldn't even manage an attempt to cap off Kari's chastising remark. He briefly considered offering TK a word of encouragement, but Kari's next words cut him short.

"Then focus. Like we have been for the last few weeks. Like we did in the Digital World before." She glanced at the clock in the kitchen. "Come on. We're supposed to meet with Izzy in a half hour, but we can be a little early." With that, she stood and extended her hand to TK, who, after an interval of hesitation, grasped it and let himself be helped into a standing position.

An ache rose in Davis' chest, slow and dull. He rubbed the spot instinctively, but couldn't alleviate the feeling. He followed Kari and TK, his face blank except for the small flaring of his nostrils. If this was. If this was what Matt felt like about Sora, then he had Davis' full support in telling TK to mind his own business.

* * *

Tai leaned closer to Sora, his eyes never leaving the center of the room where Izzy was speaking. He said something, softly and without any emotion shifting his face. Sora had her hands folded in front of her, and when Tai spoke, they loosened, and she shook her head, so slightly that Davis would have missed the motion, if he hadn't been looking for it.

_So there is something going on between them. And Matt..._

Davis didn't miss the way Matt held himself, stiff and straight, his arms crossed tightly in front of his chest. He looked as though he were straining to keep his body from flying apart, and the ache in Davis' chest returned anew.

Poor guy.

Maybe after the meeting, he'd try to. Talk to Matt. Even ask his advice about what to do about Kari. But then he'd have to offer his own advice, and Davis didn't really know what to say. Or. Maybe he'd just talk to Tai.

Davis brightened. Right. That'd be the best thing. Then Tai wouldn't getting distracted, and they could really focus on getting Agumon back from that slime ball Ken.

The feeling of triumph evaporated. Davis had no one to blame but himself for losing Agumon. If he had just. If he'd been a better leader, more courageous, then they wouldn't need a rescue operation. Tai wouldn't have backed down. Even though TK was a jerk, he was right about that. Monstrous digimon or no, Tai would stand his ground.

_And still make sure that no one got hurt._

Davis surprised himself with the thought. What good was he as a leader, if he couldn't even guarantee the safety of the people who looked up to him? Davis glanced at TK, who was no more absorbed in what Izzy was saying, all his attention focused on Matt. TK observed his brother like he expected a sign to spring out on his forehead and announced exactly what was wrong.

Davis rolled his eyes. Well, TK probably didn't look up to him, or anyone else except maybe Matt, but Davis could respect that. His attention went back to Tai, but the older boy wasn't conversing with Sora anymore; he'd moved away, silently made his way over to Matt, and spoke in the same soft, steady tone that revealed nothing about what he was saying.

Matt relaxed momentarily, nodded sharply, then assumed his previous, rigid posture.

Tai sighed, the first sign of emotion he'd conveyed since the meeting started. He moved his hand to Matt's shoulder, and when he'd kept it there long enough, Matt's tension receded.

_What is that even about?_

Davis stared until he noticed the absence of Izzy's voice. He looked around the room, and thankfully everyone hadn't stopped just to wait for him to to pay attention. He rolled his shoulders, and when he turned back to Tai, he'd left Matt's side, and moved to stand in front of Izzy's bedroom window.

"And that's basically it," Izzy said without flourish. "What are your thoughts, Tai?"

Tai stood straight, right hand hanging at his side, the other shoved in his pocket. Davis felt self-conscious, seeing Tai so close to so much scrutiny, and still totally at ease. To add to his burden, Davis still hadn't gone through a significant growth spurt, and had yet to develop much definition in his shoulders or arms. He again took account of everyone in the room, but no one paid him any attention.

"He got away once. Twice." Tai spoke with the same flat, controlled voice Davis knew he must have used with Matt and Sora.

I'll have to get that down soon, if I'm ever gonna get anyone to take me half as seriously as Tai.

"We take the fight to him. Simple as that." And it really was, the way Tai spoke.

"You mean go after him here? In the real world?" Davis asked in a rush.

Tai didn't answer immediately. He didn't look anywhere else, but still held his words.

"No," he said after a few seconds. "That's not an option right now. Not when he has Agumon in the Digital World. He hit him on his tuft, and we hit him hard." He stopped again, and took in everyone standing around him. When his eyes settled on Davis, there was a moment of hope, when Davis thought his mentor would silently and secretly convey something, a scrap of insight that would reveal the motivation behind Tai's behavior. Instead Tai's lips simply turned up, briefly but noticeably, and his gaze moved on.

"I don't want anyone who isn't completely committed to feel that they need to come on this mission. And I know some of you think I'm being really dramatic by saying that." Here Tai cocked his head back at Matt, who expelled a long breath in response. "But I am serious, when I say it. You want out, say so. You think you'll make a bigger contribution by staying back and providing back up info, you got it. But either way, you need to be completely sure of what you're doing. We're not just fighting to destroy a control spire here. We're fighting to save a comrade. And my friend."

Tai finished to silence as everyone took in his words. Davis shifted his weight from foot to foot. TK, flanked by Yolei and Cody, cleared his throat but was otherwise quiet. Izzy was already spoken for in his role, and there was no doubt that Kari and TK would accompany their brothers, and...

"I'm in," Davis said, loudly enough to draw everyone's attention. He received confused expressions.

"Why wouldn't you be?" Yolei asked slowly, as though she might have missed some point in the conversation.

"Hey, I'm not saying I wouldn't. I'm mean obviously. But." Davis gestured in frustration. "Everyone needs to know that they can count of me." The assertion sounded half formed, a pale imitation of Tai's quite, firm commitment.

Tai approached, his face relaxed and bearing the same easy smile he'd given before, hands in the same position.

"We wouldn't have it any other way, Davis. You'll be a great leader on this mission."

* * *

The sky roared.

Davis couldn't think of any other way to describe what was happening. He couldn't hear what Kari was shouting as she gestured for him to fall back, could barely tear his gaze away from the colossus that was lumbering toward them like something out of a myth.

_This. This is insane._

Davis ran. Finally turned, and only realized he'd sprinted when he stopped next to Kari and felt his heart about to breach his ribs.

"Keep at the ring! Focus your attacks! Kari, Cody. Coordinate!" Tai's orders carried through in a blessed moment of reprieve from the guttural din; the rhythm of his words meshed with the booming of Metal Greymon's steps.

Kari yelled her own orders, moving quickly to her brother's side; Davis didn't know where Cody was, or Matt. He stared, with rising dread, as Flamedramon shot a barrage of fireballs at Metal Greymon, only to have them roll off like raindrops on a roof.

_Tai and the older kids fought Ultimates all the time. God, they fought Megas, and we're not even making this guy sweat._

Nefertimon and Digmon unleashed a combined assault directly against the dark spiral, but metal and light were deflected without effect, and Davis was deafened by a rising roar. Twin missiles shot out from the launcher on Metal Greymon's chest; they spiraled through the air, seeking their targets with an almost intelligent urgency, before they were barely but successfully dodged, and the resulting impact and explosion sent an avalanche of rock and dirt into the air.

Davis found his bearings once the sun was momentarily blocked out; he prepared to dash to the side, then felt the air rush out of him as Flamedramon caught him around his midriff and rushed them both to safety. They landed on a nearby outcrop of rocks, and Davis had to hold onto his partner's arm to prevent himself from sinking to the ground.

"Are you all right?" Flamedramon looked no worse for wear, but Davis could tell, by the rough edge of his digimon's voice, that he was getting tired.

"Yeah," Davis breathed. "Just lemme." He left the thought unfinished, didn't even know what he wanted to say or do.

"We need to get back."

And before Davis could even agree, he was pulled forward, and hit the ground moments later, this time without any words of concern.

"Davis! Get Flamedramon in there. The others need help." Again, Davis was denied the luxury of responding, as Matt ran up to Tai, his face streaked with dust and sweat.

"No good. I thought Garurumon's attacks might make the coil more brittle, but, we're still not making a scratch."

"Damn it." Tai's fist shook, not out of fear but rage.

Davis swallowed. Something else filled the air, not a smell or a sound, but a pressure, at the base of his skull and along his spine, as though someone had filled a bag with wet gravel and pressed it hard against his skin.

Another roar, and the shrieking of tearing rock filled the air, worse than Flymon's maddening call. When the sound abated, Davis was still clutching his ears, and Falmedramon had crouched low, ready to lung forward at any moment.

"Davis," he said, quietly but assuredly. "I've got an opening."

Metal Greymon's shadow was on them, impossibly broad and apparently without end. Davis' breath came out in short, wet bursts. His eyes burned as sweat dribbled around them from his forehead. And his hands shook.

"No," he said, to one. "No it's."

It's not going work, not now. This is Tai's partner, the one who fought against the most powerful evil digimon in existence, and won.

"Davis!" Tai again, closer this time, more urgent. More angry.

_Four of us against one and we can't even make a dent. He's going to._

Davis looked to the smoldering craters where Metal Greymon's attacks had landed, then back to the sheared rock that belonged to the face of the cliff side.

_That's what's waiting for us. Before this, it's all been a joke. One big._

"Get down!"

Someone slammed into Davis; he hit the ground hard, and pain lanced through his arm and exploded along his shoulder. He raised his head, could only crane his neck and inch or so against the weight of.

Matt. Matt had tackled him to the ground, so he wouldn't be crushed by...

"Damn it." Matt's weight left, and Davis sat up, so he could see the pieces of pale rock that had crashed into the ground where he'd stood just seconds before. God, and he would have been a smear against the ground. He started to get up, but Matt grabbed his shoulder and dragged him back, along the rough ground.

"What the hell are you doing?" Matt winced and paused as small shards of rock hit his shoulders and head. He glanced over his shoulder to take in the sight of Nefertimon detonating orbs of light like flash bombs. Matt pulled himself and his anger back, focused them finely.

"Flamedramon is risking his life to help with this fight, and you're standing and staring off into space like you're on vacation." Matt's eyes narrowed. "You're not playing a game, so pull yourself together or get out of here. We can't fight and cart you off to safety at the same time." With that, Matt stood, grabbed Davis' hand, and roughly pulled him up.

"Thanks," Davis muttered tonelessly at Matt's retreating back. Back to Tai, back to the fight. Davis squeezed his eyes shut, and they burned. This was what he'd wanted. This is what he'd said he'd do. Protect his friends, help Tai and Agumon. But he couldn't stomach exploding stone, had to have Matt risk his life just because he was too much of a coward.

"Flamedraom!" Davis called, and his digimon was by his side.

"I..." Davis swallowed thickly. "I don't know if we can win this." The words stung. He might as well have turned a knife against his gut.

"Don't know? You're not even trying." Harsh and fast, a slap to his face. Davis' cheeks burned all the same.

"You're right. God, you're right. But I just."

"Davis. Do you care about these people? Are they your friends?"

He only nodded.

"Then fight." And Flamedramon was as strong and confident as he'd been the day he'd digivolved.

"Fight," Davis said faintly. It should have been so easy, for his friends. For Kari. But Kari didn't need him, anymore than Tai would want to speak to him aftertoday.

"I."

Twin metal claws lanced the ground barely a hundred meters in front up them, then lifted and tore open the earth, spraying a fresh wave of dirt and rock toward everyone. Kari and Cody had fallen back, back to Tai and Matt, and their digimon now formed a protective circle around the group, everyone moving closer together.

Except Tai, who took one, then two, slow steady steps forward, his face and body calm. His hands didn't shake.

A single claw struck out this time, closer than the last, and the debris it sent flying hit harder and faster, and Davis had to shield his eyes with his arm; Flamedramon dug into the ground and pressed Davis against his side to steady him.

Before he could see anything, Davis heard screaming. He dropped his arm and looked around frantically.

"Tai! Stop!

"What are you doing?"

"Tai get back here!"

Davis' own voice joined the chorus, as Tai walked from the group's bounds toward Metal Greymon, with all the ease of a man going for an afternoon stroll.

Kari broke from the group, but TK caught her as another claw swiped in front of Tai. The earth trembled, but Tai kept his balance; he only raised his arm briefly to block the incoming bits of rock, and when the dust cleared, he kept on forward, always behind the increasingly brief and abrupt swipes, until he was directly before the dark behemoth that used to be his loyal friend and partner. Tai paused, his shoulders relaxed, before he lifted his head, and extended his arms out and up, palms upturned, and there he remained, as unmoving as the now still rock.

"Flamedramon," Davis spoke, barely able to form the name. "Flamedramon you have to." Davis chocked on the bile in his throat. He bent forward and dry heaved. His shirt was soaked through with sweat, and he his vision started to blur. "Go. To Tai." He didn't hear a response, and the last of his voice went into the tight command. "GO. NOW."

Davis' digimon launched himself forward, and then the world started to shift.

_This isn't right. I can't feel my arms._

The pressure returned, this time forcing his neck down, and he felt ice seep into his veins, close around his throat. Davis' right knee hit the ground, then his hands, and he had to struggle just to keep himself from collapsing.

A dull static, like the distant breach of ocean waves against rocks filled his head, and he started to loll in place.

_It's nice. Like a lullaby. Maybe. Maybe it was just a dream. And I'll wake up, in my bed, and I'll still just have to worry about soccer and school and Kari. That's nice. That sounds nice._

Even the high roar that ripped from that digimon sounded nice. Even the scream of someone in danger, that sounded nice.

Davis stiffened.

Someone was in danger. Someone. Kari. No. No she was fine She could handle herself she didn't need. Tai. Tai had gone forward, away from everyone else to confront.

Davis struggled to raise his head. He focused on the roar, less and less distant with each second. That was.

_That's Dark Metal Greymon! And Tai's there. Right in front of him, and he doesn't have a digimon. He._

Davis gnashed his teeth and dragged himself along the ground. Rocks scraped against his knees, cutting into them. He felt the warmth of blood, and the sting of dirt driving into raw skin. He kept on. Toward the sound. He had to. Even if it was just with his bare hands, he had to try to help. He was stupid, so stupid before. You can't win, but you don't just lay down and die. Stupid, stupid coward.

With a cry, Davis' head snapped up, and blue light danced in his vision, but that's not what stopped him.

Metal Greymon was writhing as though in pain, his roars resounding across the desolate landscape. Tai occupied the same place, and the air in front of him rippled as though a furnace had been buried beneath the sands. With a final, deafening scream, Metal Greymon twisted his torso sharply to the right, and something flew off his shoulder.

"No way," Davis whispered. He watched in horrid fascination as the Digimon Emperor was shot out above the sand and fell in arc toward the dust. Down. Down, down. Maybe twenty feet above the ground, and Davis readied himself for the sickening thud, until Metal Greymon's claw moved, ready to terminate his captor's fall.

Landing on metal instead of sand. It's not gonna work. It's not gonna work. Ken is going to.

Airdromon shot out, a ribbon of blue, red and orange that caught Ken in a blink, and just as quickly flew off.

The red points of light in Metal Greymon's eyes flickered, sparked, then died, and the dark spiral around his arm twisted, expanded, contracted, and finally liquified, sloughing off in great globs like fresh tar. Golden light enveloped Tai's digimon, and his size receded, until Agumon stood in his place for a beat before he collapsed onto the sand.

Davis' head fell again; his limbs trembled, and he hit the sand too. It felt hot against his face and legs, but he didn't care. The blue light still shone clearly like a beacon.

He wasn't sure how much time passed, but eventually he heard foot steps. Rocks being driven into sand. Next someone's hands were on his shoulders, and he was being turned over, until white and azure light mixed in his vision.

Whoever had come to him, their hands were soft.

"Kari," Davis said to the sky.

"Uh, no. Sorry but you're gonna have to settle for me."

TK. Everything just has to take the absolute wrong turn here.

"Hey, don't move too much. You're in pretty bad shape." TK pressed lightly against Davis' chest.

"What happened to Tai?"

TK stilled. "We don't know. He just. God. I've never seen him do something like that." There was an almost reverential incredulity in his voice, and Davis had to second the sentiment.

"Looks like he didn't need me after all." Davis bit down hard on his lip. His eyes stung. "I really messed up, didn't I?"

"You were going for him, though. Tai. That light coming from your digivice. It's because of the egg we found."

Davis snorted. "Yeah, right when Tai's about to get stomped by a giant dinosaur, I decide to pull together."

TK sighed. "You can stop beating yourself up. It happened. It's over. And Tai's fine."

Davis lifted his head and frowned. "Just like that? I mean. I. I'm not a leader. I."

"Davis. Stop it. You don't think Tai stumbled at first?" But he didn't sound as sure as before, and Davis pressed forward.

"But you said he'd never done anything like this before. And. And what we were talking about before, with Matt and him."

TK cleared his throat loudly, and Davis was ready to protest, when he heard more footsteps, and mingled voices.

Tai. And he couldn't help but smile in relief. He really was all right.

Davis struggled to sit up; TK helped him, placed a hand behind his back and supported him.

"Thanks," he said quietly, and looked forward.

Tai was being supported on one side by Kari, who had Gatomon in her opposite arm arm, while Matt walked on Tai's other side, an exhausted Agumon riding on his back. Cody carried Upamon in one arm, Chibimon in the other, and Yolei gingerly handled a drained Poromon.

"Tai." Davis spoke with far more desperation than he'd intended, wasn't even sure if he'd been heard. When Tai finally stopped and made eye contact with him, Davis held his breath, and nearly fell back to the ground.

But Tai only gave him a brief nod, his expression neutral, neither condemning or excusing his actions.

And that's it? He's not even going to get angry, tell me that I need to do better, or that I'll never be a leader? How about telling us what the hell his whole crazy charge was about?

"He's vulnerable," was all Tai said, and it was all he needed to say to have everyone's attention, though from where Davis sat, Matt was the one being addressed.

"He doesn't know what's going on anymore than we do." Tai steadied himself against Kari. The knuckles of his right hand were freshly scraped and bruised. He took a breath. "We've got him."

_He's not even pretending to talk to all of us._

Matt's face was blank and white with exhaustion. He moved toward TK, but his brother stood and stepped back, his stance defensive. Matt sighed, and also moved back, as though resigned to the widening chasm between them. When Matt spoke, it was with the same tired, remorseless resignation, and Davis finally understood TK's anxiety.

"Let's move out then. We've got a war to fight."


End file.
